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MEMORIAL 


Bea OV ARD Bb. FRALL,. D.D., 


LATE PASTOR OF THE 


FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY, 


PROVIDENCE, R.I. 


robvidence : 
SIDNEY S. RIDER AND BROTHER. 
1867. 





CAMBRIDGE : 


PRESS OF JOHN 


WILSON AND SON, 





ITE NESS NEG OW ELON MEI De 
CONTAINING 
NOTICES OF THE LIFE, DEATH, AND FUNERAL SERVICES 


OF THE 


have EOWA Dee By TALE, D.D., 


IS PUBLISHED FOR THE 


First Congregational Society, 


Providence, R.1., 


AND DEDICATED TO HIS MEMORY. 


¢ 








INTRODUCTION . 













iit MEN PEAT PROVIDENCE: (psu, 88 66 we te TY 

SERMON BY Dr. HALL, RESIGNING HIS OFFICE... 4I 

ACTION OF THE SOCIETY ON THE RESIGNATION OF 
ete re ee re Be ir a Bo esi ee pecs GI 


RESOLUTIONS OF THE SOCIETY ON THE DEATH OF DR. 


Ree eee ene re ee ey ts es 69 
ORDER OF SERVICE AT THE FUNERAL OF DR. HALL . | 75 
Peete AN NEE T SP UNERALSADDRESS .0 3. es ew) IQ 


Notices of the Meath of Ar. Hull. 


From the ‘‘ Monthly Journal of the American Unitarian 








eect alo ie ret eee Ay ie ah se 2 ad, ey TTS 
Pimuneceurrovidcence lOUIAl-; 6 8 ef a ee 125 
from the ** Providence Daily Post”... . «... - . » I3¢ 
Peomctes Cristian Werister s/w, we 138 






From the ‘‘ Christian Inquirer” 






CONTENTS. 





Resolutions and Notices by Other Societies. 


Westminster Congregational Society. 
New-York Pastoral Association 


Unitarian Society of Fall River 


Shelter Home of Providence 
Children’s Friend Society 


Providence Employment Society . 


Benefit-street Ministry-at-large 
Providence Seamen’s Friend Society 
Home for Aged Women . 


Washington Temperance Society . 





Cee AOD Celt OV: 














5) 





INTRODUCTION. | 


>| DWARD BROOKS HALL was born 

in Medford, Mass., on the 2d of Sep- 

tember, 1800, and named from his 

maternal grandfather, the Rev. Edward Brooks, 
of North Yarmouth, Mass. 

In his boyhood, he was by no means given to 
books, but almost notorious among the neighbors 
for his love of play. At the age of fifteen, he 
discovered that his mother was very anxious that 
he should enter college; and he took his deter- 
mination. He went at once to Mr. Convers 
Francis, then teaching in Medford, and asked if 
he could be fitted to enter at Harvard by the next 
Commencement. The reply was discouraging ; 





INTRODUCTION. 





but the boy persisted in inquiring if it were Possz- 
ble. Mr. Francis replied that it might be done 
in nine months, possibly, by the hardest study. 
From that day the neighbors saw no more of 
Edward Hall in the streets of Medford; he shut 
himself up in a little room in his father’s house, 
went through the Latin Grammar in a fortnight, 
recited regularly to Mr. Francis, and entered 
college honorably at the end of the nine months. 
So hasty preparation involved the necessity of 
continued hard study, which kept him aloof from 
his classmates, and brought on the near-sighted- 
ness which incommoded him through life. 

As this is intended merely as an introduction, 
—not a biographical sketch,—we will only 
state, that, at the age of twenty-six, Mr. Hall 


was ordained over a new society in Northamp- 


ton, their first pastor; and those are still living 
who remember the grief of his people when 
ill health compelled him to send in his resigna- 
tion. 

After recovery, he took charge of the Unitarian 
Church in Cincinnati for nearly a year, and 





INTRODUCTION. I3 








was urged to remain. He returned, however, to 
New England, and established the Unitarian 
society in Grafton: with his usual energy, he 
called together the men of the parish, and laid 
their duty before them so earnestly that a church 
was formed on the spot. Soon after, he received 
his call to Providence. 

For the sake of the example, it may be well 
to state, that, with the same conscientious perse- 
verance which he manifested in preparing for 
college, Mr. Hall early set himself to acquire 
the control of a naturally hasty temper, and, of 
course, with the same success. ‘Through life, 
particularly in the active career which now 
opened upon him, he felt the blessing of this 
victory. 

As an advocate of temperance, of anti-slavery, 
of law and order during political troubles in 
Rhode Island, and of various reforms, he often 
met opposition, and sometimes reproach; but he 
never lost his dignity nor his friends, because 


he never lost his temper. He could discriminate 


calmly between the sin and the sinner; boldly 





14 INTRODUCTION. 





rebuking the one, while he looked in Christian 
charity upon the other. 
With this cultivated equanimity, his days, 


crowded as they were with work, were singularly 


tranquil and cheerful; and on waking, the day 


before his death, — scarcely a week after he had 
been told that his disease was fatal, —he re- 
marked with much feeling, “I am very grateful, 
I have had such a happy life.” 














SETTLEMENT AT PROVIDENCE. 


N the 14th day of November, 1832, Mr. 
Hall was installed as pastor of the First 





Congregational Church and Society in 
Providence, R.I. On the 5th day of November, 
1865, he resigned the office which he had so long 
and so worthily filled. or thirty-three years he 
had performed the duties of his position with 
great acceptance and success. His public and 
his private ministrations had been most highly 
valued; and he had endeared himself to his par- 
ishioners, and had acquired the esteem of the 
entire community, by his piety, his fidelity, and 
his ability as a Christian minister. It was there- 
3 


18 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





fore with feelings of profound regret that his peo- 
ple heard the words which expressed his inten- 
tion to dissolve the connection that had happily | 
existed through a complete generation. They 
desired him to withdraw his resignation. But he 
had decided that it was most desirable and fitting 
that the relation should cease, and he could not 
be induced to revise his action. He did, how- 
ever, so far yield to the solicitations of his parish- 
ioners as to consent to remain their pastor until 
the 1st of May, 1866, at which time the separa- 
tion was to be final. Yet not altogether so; for 
Dr. Hall was still to continue his residence in 
Providence, and his membership with the society. 
But the active duties of the pastorate were no 
longer to be performed by him, and the burdens 
which he had bravely and cheerfully borne were 
to be shifted to younger and more vigorous 
shoulders. | 

Dr. Hall, therefore, continued to fill the pulpit, 
and to perform his parochial duties as usual, 
through the months of November, December, 
and January, with his ordinary vigor. As usual, 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I9 


on the evening of the 31st of December, he 
preached a discourse appropriate to the close of 
the year to a large congregation of attentive and 
deeply interested listeners. The following para- 
graphs, with which he concluded the sermon, — 
indeed, the series of sermons, not one of which 
had been omitted for a third of a century, — are 
now read with a peculiarly touching interest, as 
though they were prophetic : — 

~ “Ye people of my care and love for so many 
years, there rests upon one mind to-night, in the 
thought of our past and future, a heavy weight 
of conscious responsibility. How have these 
many years been used by him whose office it has 
been to teach you how to live? Have these suc- 
cessive marked seasons been made occasions of 
impression and instruction? Have the uncounted 
days and hours, passed by us together in this 
house of worship and in favored or afflicted 
homes, been filled with fidelity on my part, and 
benefit on yours? Has a ministry of such dura- 
tion been wholly in vain to many of my charge? 


I prefer to press the inquiry now, for my own sake 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 








and yours. Another year will find us in altered 
relations. And, though I have no wish to give to 
the fact any undue prominence, I cannot let the 
year close without uttering the fervent prayer 
that none of us may be insensible to the moral 
magnitude of such accumulated privileges and 
sober accountabilities. We speak of life; and 
this connection has been a life in itself. Where 
or what has itfound us? And what does it leave 
us? Living spirits, thoughtful of time in its 
flight and its issues, grateful for mercies, and 
faithful to duty? For those of us who have been 
living, in one sense at least, through the whole 
term, there has rolled up a burden of responsi- 
bility which we cannot throw off, but must take 
with us into another life. God forgive us, if this 
relation has done little to fit us for that higher 
existence! God have mercy, if any can look 
back over the whole with indifference, or forward 


in thoughtlessness! We are soon to meet, not 


only the God who has given us all, and the Sa- 


viour who lived and died for us all, but others 


also, once with us, now gone before, for whose 








ee We 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


present happiness we ourselves may be in a 


measure accountable. A goodly company they 


make, gathered from every one of our families. 
Is there a home or heart that has not contributed 
to their number? If there be, we can hardly 
congratulate them; for precious are those treas- 
ures laid up in heaven. 

“As I look through the record of our necrol- 
ogy, I see a variation in the years, from eight 
persons to twenty-eight. This year has added 
seventeen. And, if we count the whole of the 
years, it gives an aggregate of six hundred; not 
a large number for a large society. So far as I 
have compared it with other societies, we have 
been singularly favored, if favored we call it, 
which is for each survivor to say. For each sur- 
vivor there is enough to ponder, silently, grate- 
fully, soberly. Think of life more than of death. 
Think of the present more than of the past; and 
let humility and fidelity in the present prepare 
your spirits for that infinite future which will 
gather us all in; the departed, the hving, the un- 
born yet to die, — say, rather, a// to “ive, where 





22 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





years are lost in Eternity, and death in Immor- 





tality. 

© You will bear with me while I recite, in clos- 
ing, a few stanzas lately written by one of our 
best poets. ‘Waiting by the Gate’ is the title he 
gives ; and the words bring before us, as we pass 
along the line, the many we have seen waiting, 
then departing; while they tell us of the time 
when the gate will open for others and for us : — 


‘Behold the portals open, and o’er the threshold now 
There steps a weary one, with a pale and furrowed brow; 
His count of years is full, his allotted task is wrought; 
He passes to his rest from the place that needs him not. 


Again the hinges turn; and a youth, departing, throws 

A look of longing backward, and sorrowfully goes. . 

A blooming maid, unbinding the roses from her hair, 
Moves mournfully and gently from amidst the young and fair. 


And some approach the threshold, whose looks are blanched 
with fear ; 

And some whose temples brighten with joy in drawing near, 

As if they saw dear faces, and caught the gracious eye 

Of Him, the sinner’s Teacher, who came for us to die. 


I mark the joy, the terror; yet these within my heart 
Can neither wake the dread nor the longing to depart; 
And in the sunshine, streaming on quiet wood and lea, 
I stand, and calmly wait till the hinges turn for me.’” 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 23 


During the month of January, Dr. Hall discov- 
ered that some disease had impaired his sight to 
such a degree as to make an examination by a 
physician imperative. On Saturday, Jan. 13th, 
he went/to Boston, and consulted Dr. Derby, a 
distinguished and skilful oculist of that city. On 
Sunday, the 14th, he preached at the College 
Chapel, Cambridge, on exchange with the Rev. 
Dr. Thomas Hill. On Monday, the 15th, a sec- 
ond examination of Dr. Hall’s eyes was made, 
the result of which was an actual prohibition of 
all reading, writing, or any other occupation 
which required the sense of sight. But Dr. Hall 
was not disposed to relinquish all labor; and he 
decided to commit to memory the hymns and 


Scripture lessons necessary for the Sunday ser- 


vices, and to preach extemporaneously. The 
parts to be learned were read to him, and thus he 
prepared himself for his accustomed labor. On 
Friday, January roth, he participated in a funeral 
service; repeating passages of Scripture, and a 
piece of elegiac poetry, from memory. On Sun- 
day, the 21st, he did not preach: Rev. Dr. Bel- 





24 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





lows, of New-York city, occupied his pulpit. 
But on Sunday morning, the 28th, he went 
through the usual service successfully, and to his 
great satisfaction and even delight. The only 
unusual circumstance which was noted was a 
slight tremulousness of voice, as he repeated the 


stanza of the opening hymn of the service : — 


‘*In each event of life how clear 
Thy ruling hand I see! 
Each blessing to my soul more dear, 
Because conferred by thee.” 


Rev. Professor J. L. Diman preached in the eve- 
ning. 


On the 29th, Dr. Hall visited Boston again, 


and submitted to another examination of his eyes. 


Dr. Derby was not at all despondent of the case, 
and encouraged his patient to hope that an ulti- 
mate recovery would be secured. It was neces- 
sary, however, to go through the operation of 
cupping, and a subsequent day was appointed for 
that purpose. On Tuesday, the 30th, Dr. Hall 
returned to Providence; and, in the afternoon of 





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Oe r 
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MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 25 





the same day, offered prayer at a funeral service 
held in the chapel of his church. He was then 
apparently as strong as usual, with the exception 
of the difficulty of vision, which became some- 
what troublesome to him. On the following Sun- 
day, February 4th, he preached in the morning, 
and officiated at the regular communion service 
in the afternoon, without assistance; still making 
requisitions upon his memory, and finding that 
he could trust it fully for every needed service. 
But, during the ensuing week, he began to feel 
symptoms of approaching weakness. He had ex- 
pected to exchange pulpits with Rev. William R. 
Alger, of Boston, on the following Sunday. But 
Mr. Alger was unable to fulfil the engagement ; 
and Dr. Hall succeeded in procuring the services 
of Rev. Edward J. Young, of Newton, who 
preached in the First Church on Sunday, Feb- 
ruary 11th. Dr. Hall did not go out of town, 


but remained at home; attending service in the 


morning and evening, but not participating. On 


Tuesday, the 13th, he once more went to Boston ; 


and an operation of cupping was performed upon 





4 = - a 


26 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





his temples, which required him to remain in a 
dark room, with bandaged eyes, for twenty-four 
hours. He spent the time in conversing, in 
excellent and cheerful mood, with some friends 
who called upon him; and, during his solitary 
intervals, in repeating to himself familiar psalms 
and hymns. He returned to Providence in good 
spirits; but signs of increasing feebleness became 
painfully manifest to his observant friends. On 
Sunday, February 18th, Rev. Mr. Alger preached 
in the First Church, Dr. Hall attending the morn- 
ing service. .The evening was rainy, and it was 
not thought expedient for him to leave his resi- 
dence. Another week followed, with the occur- 
rence of no alarming symptoms; but he was 
now confined to the house, and saw but few 
friends. It was supposed, until this time, that the 
stomach was the part of his physical frame that 
was affected by disease; and remedies were ap- 
plied accordingly. His mental and spiritual fac- 


ulties were as strong and clear as ever, and a 


cheerful, patient spirit breathed through every 
word and act. If he occasionally found himself 





‘MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 27 








chafing against the confinement, he immediately 
checked the expression of apparent discontent, 
and changed into words of trustful submission to 
the Divine will. On Sunday, the 25th, Mr. H. 
F. Jenks, of the Divinity School, Cambridge, 
preached, but Dr. Hall was unable to attend. 
The following week was destined to be a sad 
season for his friends. 

On Tuesday, the 27th, a thorough examination 
of the case was made by Drs. C. W. Parsons and 
Ely, and the disease was pronounced to be en- 
largement of the heart. The physicians, how- 
ever, expressed the hope, that, by the use of 
powerful remedies, the stroke of death might be 
averted for a time, and that their patient might 
be able to go out again. On Thursday, the Ist 
of March, Dr. Hall was entirely comfortable, and 
passed a very pleasant day. He, indeed, ex- 
pressed himself as somewhat doubtful respecting 
the result, but had not given up the hope of en- 
gaging in the active duties of life. He spent 
Thursday night without pain or difficulty, and 


the most of Friday passed with but little to cause 





‘ 


28 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





apprehension. Friday night was a bad night for 
him; and through the day, on Saturday, he expe- 
rienced much difficulty in breathing. During the 
afternoon, he transferred to the American Unita- 
rian Association the copyright of his ‘* Biogra- 
phy of Mary L. Ware,” writing his name plainly, 
for the last time in life. He would occasionally 
repeat aloud passages of Scripture, and stanzas 
of favorite hymns. About half-past five o’clock, 
he repeated the stanzas from the well-known 
hymn : — 
‘Thou ever good and kind! 
A thousand reasons move, 


A thousand obligations bind 
My heart to grateful love. 


The creature of thy hand, 
On thee alone I live; 
My God, thy benefits demand 
More praise than dveath can give.” 


Distressed in breathing, he substituted the word 
“breath” for “life.” A moment after, perhaps 
thinking that a change of position might give him 


ease, he made an effort to rise from the chair in 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 29 





which he was sitting. But death had come be- 
fore he could stand upon his feet, and he fell. 
Life was doubtless extinct at the moment of 
rising. The spirit had flown for ever from this 
mortal life, and but lifeless clay lay prone upon 
the floor of his study. Calmly he died, — “a vet- 


-! 


eran slumbering on his arms;” and in peace he 
entered into his reward. He had lived upon this 
earth sixty-five years and six months. Then he 
passed on into life eternal. For him “there shall 
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, 
neither shall there be any more pain; for the 
former things are passed away.” 

Dr. Hall’s death produced a profound sensation 
throughout the community. He had been so 
well and so widely known, and his death was so 
unexpected, as to cause a shock of surprise and 
sorrow to thrill through all hearts. The mem- 
bers of his own parish, of the Westminster parish 
to whom he had often ministered, of the congre- 
gation worshipping at the Free Chapel, were 
particularly affected. The bell upon the First 


Church was tolled for an hour, and an impromptu 


30 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


gathering of friends and parishioners took place 
at the church. A committee was appointed to ar- 
range for the services of the following day. Mr. 
H. G. Spaulding, of the Divinity School, had 
been engaged to preach; but both he and the 
committee judged it most appropriate that a dif- 
ferent arrangement should be made. It was de- 
cided to invite Rev. Mr. Stone, of the Free 
Chapel, and Rev. Mr. Woodbury, of the West- 
minster Church, to conduct the services on the 
morrow, in the First Church. Those gentlemen 
were accordingly invited, and accepted the duty ; 
Mr. Stone closing the chapel, and Mr. Spaulding 
preaching at the Westminster Church. 

On Sunday, March 4th, a large congrega- 
tion, composed of the usual worshippers at the 
First Church, with many from the other two 
churches, assembled to consider the solemn les- 
sons of the hour. ‘The pulpit was draped in 
black, and a sad yet submissive expression 
rested on the features of all. Rev. Mr. Stone 
read most aptly selected passages of Scripture, | 


and offered a very appropriate and fervent prayer. 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. ot 





Rev. Mr. Woodbury preached a discourse from 
the text, Matt. xxiv. 4o: “The one shall be 
taken, and the other left.” The doctrine of the 
discourse was, that Divine Providence was order- 
ing wisely, and not acting capriciously, in giving 
strength, health, joy, and life to one, and causing 
another to suffer weakness, sickness, sorrow, and 
death; and that it was necessary to use the bless- 


ings faithfully, and to endure the suffering trust- 


fully. The point was illustrated by reference to 
the contact which these experiences made with 
the different seasons of life, and the discourse 
closed with the following allusion to the deceased 
pastor : — 

“ How sweetly a peaceful death closes a faith- 
ful Christian life! To have the consciousness of 
a life-work well and thoroughly performed, and 
then to lay off the harness and sink away to rest, 
without a murmur, without a sigh, without a pang 
of pain! Who would wish for a better end than 
that? Verily, our brother, my esteemed and 
beloved fellow-worker in the vineyard of our 
Lord, the pastor of this church, has been as 





32 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


happy in his death as he has been useful and 
honored in his life. He had completed his labor ; 
he had, of his own choice, laid down the burden 
of duty, that another, younger, and more vigor- 
ous hand might take it up and carry it forward. 
Then free from pain, in the full possession of 
every mental and spiritual faculty, with the happy 
opportunity of looking back upon a life well 
spent in the service of God, upon a career of 
rare and long-continued success, in the course 
of which he had gathered an abundant harvest of 
respect and honor and love, he closed his eyes, 
and calmly fell asleep. A sudden death, indeed ; 
surprising and thrilling our entire community 
with sorrow; but a death most amply prepared 
for. Truly God has been good to him in giving 
him such means of usefulness, such power for 
good. God has been good to you, my friends, 
in permitting you to witness his pure, blameless 
life, and to be the objects of his beneficent influ- 
ence. How well he used his success, and the 


measure of strength and health he had, you 


know full well. God has been good to this com- 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





munity, in placing in the midst of it this patient, 
godly man, to work for its welfare, and to spend 
and be spent in its behalf. In every enterprise 


of good, in every work of benevolence, in every 


movement for human happiness and blessing, he 


stood forth most prominently the friend and broth- 
er of man, the servant and the child of God. 
This is not the occasion for dwelling upon the 
events of his life, and analyzing his character. 
That must be left for some future day. All that 
we can do now is to weave this humble chaplet 
for his bier. You who have grown up with him, 
have known his worth, and hold it in value more 
than words can tell,—to you he bequeaths the 
rich legacy of the memory of his ministrations at 
this altar; and, in your houses, the words which 
he has spoken, of joy, of encouragement, of con- 
solation, and of trust, —the rich legacy of a full- 
rounded and complete life, —an inheritance in- 
corruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
‘The one is taken, and the other left.’ And that 
other prays most sincerely for as full a measure 
of fidelity, devoutness, earnestness, and cheerful 
5 














34 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 








faith, as he who has just passed on to his rest and ~ 


his reward. 


‘When faith is strong, and conscience clear, 
And words of peace the spirit cheer, 
And visioned glories half appear, 

’Tis joy, ’tis triumph, then to die.’” 




















At the close of the service, a meeting of the 
society was held, and a committee of arrange- 
ments was appointed for the funeral. 

On Thursday, March 8th, the funeral of Dr. 
Hall was solemnized in the church at whose altar 
he had so long ministered. There was no mourn- 

ing drapery, except around the pulpit, which 
was covered with black cloth. A profusion of 
white flowers gave to the church an aspect cor- 
responding with the cheerful truth of the gospel 
of Christ, teaching the immortality of the spirit. 
At fifteen minutes past ten o’clock in the morn- 

ing, the church was opened for the entrance of the 
members of the two Unitarian parishes and of 
the Free Chapel; and the unreserved seats of the 
spacious edifice were soon filled. At the same 
time, a large number of the male members of the 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 35 








First Church and Society assembled at the resi- 
dence of their late pastor, to follow the remains 
to the church. Here also met the gentlemen 
selected as pall-bearers, and clergymen from 
abroad. <A fervent prayer was offered by Rev. 
‘Alonzo Hill, D.D., of Worcester, Mass. A pro- 
cession was then formed of the persons present, 
and the corpse was reverently carried by four 
colored men from the house to the church. The 
following gentlemen acted as pall-bearers: The 
Right Rev. Thomas M. Clark, D.D., Bishop of 
the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island; Rev. 
Barnas Sears, D.D., President of Brown Uni- 
versity; Rev. Samuel L. Caldwell, D.D., pastor 
of the First Baptist Church; Rev. Mark Trafton, 
pastor of the Chestnut-street Methodist Episcopal 
Church; Rev. Cyrus H. Fay, pastor of the First 
Universalist Church; Dr. Samuel B. Tobey, of 
the Society of Friends; Rev. Andrew Bigelow, 
D.D., of Boston, Mass. ; Rev. George W. Briggs, 
D.D., of Salem, Mass.; Rev. Frederic A. Far- 
ley, D.D., of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Rev. Calvin Lin- 
coln, of Hingham, Mass.; and Messrs. Joseph 





Ot MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


Balch and Nehemiah S. Draper, of the First 
Church. The clergymen from the city generally 
attended, and many clergymen from abroad were 
present as sincere mourners of the death of one 


to whom they had been accustomed to look for 


friendly sympathy and counsel. 

At fifteen minutes before eleven o’clock, the 
procession entered the church, the organ playing 
the “Dead March in Saul;” and the body was 
placed on a bier in front of the pulpit. At eleven 
o'clock, the services commenced with singing the 
anthem, “Rock of Ages, cleft for me,” followed 
by reading appropriate selections from Scripture, 
and a responsive chanting by the choir of the 
Ninetieth Psalm, read by Rev. Edwin M. Stone. 
Then followed the singing of the hymn commen- 
cing, “My Maker and my King.” It was a 
favorite hymn with Dr. Hall, and was repeated 
by him a short time before his death. Rev. Au- 
gustus Woodbury offered prayer. 

Another hymn was sung, beginning, — 


‘““My God, I thank thee! may no thought 
E’er deem thy chastisements severe.” 





w 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. ~37 





Rev. Dr. Ezra S$. Gannett, of Boston, a class- 
mate, and for half a century an intimate friend, 
of Dr. Hall, delivered the funeral address; at the 
conclusion of which, the choir sang a sentence, 
composed for the occasion by the organist of 
the church, Mr. Eben A. Kelly, to the words, 
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest.” Rev. Mr. 
Woodbury pronounced the benediction, and to 
the grand and solemn strains of Beethoven’s Fu- 
neral March the vast congregation dispersed ; and 
all that was mortal of the long-loved pastor was 
borne beyond the gates of the sanctuary, never 
more to return. 

A long procession of carriages followed the 
remains to the cemetery, at Swan Point, and in 
the “Pastor's Rest” the body was finally con- 
signed to the earth. Rev. Dr. Osgood read the 
burial service from the Liturgy compiled by him 
and other clergymen of New York and vicinity ; 
the choir sang the hymn, “I would not live al- - 
way, I ask not to stay;” and Rev. Dr. Farley 


pronounced the benediction. The entire services 










38 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 








were concluded at half-past three o’clock, P.M. ; 
and the mourning friends and _ parishioners 
separated and returned to their homes with 
chastened and subdued, yet with trustful and 
submissive hearts. 








SERMON 


PREACHED NOVEMBER 5, 186s, 


THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 


BY ITS PASTOR, 


EDWARD B. HALL, 


RESIGNING HIS OFFICE, 


Ye 





*“T speak not this to condemn you; for I have said before 
that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.” — 2 Cor. 


viii. 3. 


Z| ES; I have said it before; using the 
same words as a text twenty-three 


years ago, on the tenth anniversary 
of my settlement. But how little did these 
words convey to me then, compared with their 
meaning now! Every year has added to the 
very meaning of life, and largely to its power in 
the experience of a pastor. I do not think any 
parishioner or nearest friend can have the same 

6 





1 hs ia MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. ° 








feeling, either in kind or degree. There is no 
relation like that of a Christian minister; and 
none anywhere else, it may be, like that of a 

New-England minister. I doubt not the strength | 
of the bond elsewhere; for in itself this relation 
must have much in common with the same rela- 
tion wherever it exists, but with large differences 
in the different centuries and countries. -How 
unlike, in nearly all respects, the Romish min- 
istry to the Protestant! The people of the 
former Church have no voice in the choice or 
removal of the priest, which alone makes an 
immense. difference; and there must be other 
differences, in the feeling of restraint and sub- 
jection, rather than of freedom and. intimacy. 
Even in the English establishment, and in other 
Protestant countries, the power of appointment 
and continuance bears more resemblance to the 
old ecclesiastical modes than to the freest con- 
gregational. In nearer communions, — particu- 
larly in New England, and, most of all, in our 
own Liberal churches, — there is no interposition 


of authority, no absolute power of councils, or 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 43 





servility to customs and decrees. A parish 
elects its own pastor in the freest way, ordains 
‘or installs him by its own members, if others 
will not aid, — having also the authority of the 
civil law, —and then retains him or not, as it 
pleases; accountable to no foreign power, and 
holding to him a relation more private and 
personal, probably, than in any other part of 
Christendom. 

The New-Testament Scriptures, as all know, 
illustrate the relation of pastor and people by the 
marriage bond; and, if this illustration has lost 
much of its significance in modern times, it is 
chiefly, I think, since the marriage bond itself 
has been so often and easily sundered, though 
there may be no connection between the two 
facts. In our day, in many if not most of our 
own parishes, the implied and often declared 
term is for life, in the one connection as well as 
the other. ‘True, this has not always operated 
well in the pastoral office, and should not be 
regarded as a thing of necessity, but depending 


on circumstances, differing widely in different 





44 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





cases, and to be always subservient to the law 
of mutual advantage and spiritual edification. 
Where neither of these is promoted or seems 
possible, no idea of obligation or implied ex- 
-pectation, personal attachment or private pref- 
erence, should stand in the way of religious 
profitableness or social harmony, but yield, at 
whatever cost to the minister, in feeling or other- 


wise. 


Looking now into the interior relation as 


affected by the passage of years, the changes 
of all other relations, and the growth of attach- 
ment, we are brought again to the declaration, 
with new emphasis, that there is‘no connection 
in life like this of pastor and people. Suppos- 
ing the attachment to be mutual; motives pure; 
duties performed not only with fidelity, but alac- 
rity; the interests of every family and every 
member of the society studied, and, as far as 
known, impartially promoted; and the whole 
office and ministration as disinterested as nature 
allows,—it is not easy to over-rate the pre- 


ciousness or sacredness of this relation. What 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. . 45 














opportunities of intercourse, and. privileges of 
intimacy! What confidences, disclosures, reli- 
ances, interchanges of affection and service, of 
which the world knows little, and which many 
never suspect! What revelations of hope and 
fear and struggle, in a series of years with a 
large congregation! What communications of 


parents in anxiety for children, and sisters in 


behalf of brothers! What a mingling of joys 


and sorrows, sanguine expectations and _ their 
fulfilment or disappointment, in all that makes 
life what itis! Ina word, what a record is the 
favored and continued pastor writing every year 
on the pages of the heart, as to the inner and 
outer history, the birth and decline, of each 
household for a whole generation! Oh! there 
is nothing in public relations to compare with 
this. There is nothing in private relations that 
does not enter into it. Literally from the cradle 
to the grave, and reaching far beyond the grave, 
returning for ever to the soul’s memory and fel- 
lowship, is the power of this sacred connection 


and reciprocated affection. 





46 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 








And does any one suppose that all this may 
be easily broken off, or coldly laid aside? That 
pastor does not know himself, or has never 
heartily entered into his office, —that people 
‘does not know its pastor, or attempt to under- 
stand his work,—where either can consent. 
to such a dissolution with indifference. That 
which we call dissolution, by the act of God, 
1S a mercy, compared with any hasty or cause- 
less disruption of these ties. I would not esti- 
mate them fancifully, or exaggerate their impor- 
tance. To me, they are a part of nature and 
life, second only, and only in part, to the ties of 
home and family, from which they cannot be 
wholly severed. At least, it is my own experi- 
ence, to which I may refer at this time. 

I go back to the ground of my first ministry : 
inexperienced as I then was and overworked, 
soon interrupted by the first sickness of my 
life, —a sickness threatening the extinction of 
life, and limiting that ministry to four anxious, 
arduous, but happy years, —and mixed as are 
the emotions, I love to revisit those scenes, and 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 47 





cannot leave them without a heart-thrill for the 
many departed and the few surviving. More 
than a generation have since trodden that 
ground. The whole place has changed: but 
the affection remains; yea, the reality remains. 
‘here-is the little temple, in its rural retreat, 
reared for my first services, and consecrated by 
that more than brother, Henry Ware. There 
were the venerable hands of his father and mine 
laid on the bowed head in solemn ordination. I 
live again in those families, the first to welcome 
me to the new relation, now chiefly removed to 
another home. And, if such the power of that 
early and brief connection, how must it be in the 
later and much longer? 

From that people the first and unavoidable 


separation came; and for three years I was a 


wanderer in search of health, though ministering 


one of those years to a society in Cincinnati, 
with whom also tender ties were formed, and 
among whom that son was born who alone sur- 
vives. Then followed another year of varied 


service, in a ministry too dear to me to be will- 





48 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





ingly relinquished. Nor did I regard it as all 


an evil, —this discipline of sickness and change. 
It brings to any one more knowledge of himself, 
and of the nature and needs of the profession. 
No pastor or people is there who may not learn 
much from the experience of change and trial 
personally, and also in regard to the ministry. 
How often does that which we most lamented 
prove best in the issue! At every point in the 
past, we can see a Providence, wiser than we, 
mercifully breaking our sanguine plans, and 
constraining us to walk in better paths, though 
we knew it not. Once, twice, thrice, have I 
been withheld by an unseen Power from the po- 
sition which I desired, or forced to resign what 
I most valued, and found both the experience 
and the result full of blessing. 

So has it been, my people, with that chain 
of circumstances, often broken and sometimes 
hard to bear, which brought me to this place and 
this society. I had seen enough of the ministry 
to understand its obligations, its burdens, its 


privileges, and, not least, its uncertainties. I 








= a wae Pa PE" to 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 49 





had come to regard it as one of the most honor- 
able, and one of the most arduous and perilous, 
of all relations, — perilous to the very soul of 
him who sustains it, if he care little, or do 
little, for the souls that look to him in confi- 
dence, or those that look away in indifference 
and worldliness; perilous, whether he be treated 
with too much or too little regard, pampered 
or straitened, flattered or maligned. Nothing 
should a minister so covet from his people, noth- 
ing does he so need, as simple justice, — not 
fawning, but fairness; not loud commendation, 
nor secret complaint, but an open, manly, just 
consideration. Perfect freedom to speak and act 
according to his own best judgment, he should 
always have,—freedom to do his own work in 
his own way, untrammelled by prejudice or cus- 
tom, unsuspected of selfish or sinister motives, 


neglect or partiality. Of the last, neglect and 


partiality on the part of a pastor among the peo- 

ple, I cannot conceive. I do not know what it 

is consciously to neglect any man. It is a com- 

mon complaint in this connection, but should 
7 





50 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


never be charged upon a minister, unless it be 
too palpable to be possibly mistaken. 
Honorable, my friends, has been your bearing 
towards the pastor who came to you an entire 
stranger; confiding and fair have you been, cer- 


tainly as the rule, if with any exceptions. Par- 
don me, I pray you, if I indulge still longer in 
this unusual personality, in view of a special 
purpose. 

I came here with many misgivings. Your 
last experience had been painful; your position 
in the community was prominent; your numbers 
larger than any I had ever attempted to serve; 
while my own strength was not fully confirmed, 
and I had reason to fear its failure, if no other 
failure. The two previous ministries had been 
long, — one of twenty, the other of twenty-seven 
years’ duration; and, if any one could have as- 
sured me that mine would have reached half 
that shorter period, it would have surprised me. 
The first five years increased my apprehensions ; 
for they brought, in the end, the necessity of 
absence for a short time in a Southern clime. 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 51 


And once afterwards did health fail, and re- 
quire assistance, taxing your indulgence. Yet 
year after year was granted of God and your- 
selves, while more and more of the power of 
labor, and joy in the labor, came tome. Only 
once, in these many years of our connection, 
have I been separated wholly from you, and 
then but for four months abroad. Every one of 
our seasons of general anxiety and seasons of 
thanksgiving, every closing and opening year, 
without a single exception, I have been permit- 
ted to share with my people. And now the 
month in which this connection was formed finds 
it a longer ministry by six years than any the 
society has known; and finds me the oldest pas- 
tor in the city, having spent with you thirty-three 
of the forty years that I have been in the min- 
istry. 

Very insensible should I be, if I gave no ex- 
pression to the gratitude I feel to you, and to the 
Giver of all. The time has come when it should 
be expressed without reserve. To-day I stand 
probably on the last months of my pastoral rela- 


52 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





tion. With the year now closing, I resign the 


trust which you committed to me, and which you 
have continued through the largest and best por- 


tion of my active life. 

Do not ask me to give in full the reasons that 
have brought me to this conclusion. There has 
been nothing sudden or hasty in it, nothing out- 
side to cause it. Three years ago, as you re- 
member, I expressed a willingness and purpose 
to give place to another, whenever the welfare of 
the society should require it; and, since that, I 
have not been unobservant of myself or of others, 
—of myself especially ; for with others I have 
not conferred, and no one has said a word to me 
to accelerate my purpose. Let this be distinctly 
understood. Nothing that the society or any of 
its members have done, or not done, has influ- 
enced me to take this step now. No minister, it 
is true, ever knows the feeling of all his people 
towards him; but, so far as I do know, I believe 
I retain all the regard and confidence that I have 
ever gained. My present action proceeds from 
an inward and growing conviction, that a change 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 53 





is best for the society. And, in being just to 
you, let me be honest for myself. I cannot plead 
inability to continue the work. I am not con- 
scious, though others may be, of failing strength ; 
and sure I am, there is no weariness or loss 
of interest in the work. Never have I worked 
harder, or written more, or visited more, than in 
the last years; never have I experienced more 
ease or enjoyment in the performance of all the 
duties of my calling. It is a calling, not only 
of my choice, but of an increasing affection. I 
doubt if any one ever loved it more. No office, 
honor, or wealth, I am persuaded, can yield 
more full and pure satisfaction. Not till I have 
lost all power of action shall I willingly relin- 
quish the profession or work of the ministry. 
But I have no right to expect that I can long 
perform the many duties, or bear the responsi- 
bilities, of a large and growing parish. I know 
too well that weakness and dulness often come 
upon the servants of the public before they are 
themselves aware of it;, and I would not expose 
myself or you to such mistake and injury. 


54 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


Besides, the times have changed since I came 
to the work, and with them the conditions of a 
useful ministry. Few preachers can hope to 
avoid the monotony and weariness of many 
years’ constant service in the same pulpit. Then 
there is a spirit of restlessness and demand now, 
particularly with the young, which we may 
lament, but cannot control, and which may not 
be wholly evil. Instead of complaining and con- 
tending uselessly against it, we had better meet - 
it like men and Christians, directing it to good 
ends, even if we ourselves be the sacrifice. But 
we shall not be. No willing laborer in any field 
need be idle or useless. It is one feature of these 
very changes, that they bring with them other 
and new ways of serving the community even 
religiously. Suffer me so to aid you. Suffer 
me to remain among you, in the service without 
the office. “Ye are in my heart to die and live 
with you,” —to die as to official relations, to live 
as a brother and helper; to live or die in the 
faith that is every year more precious, and with 
the people whom every change has bound more 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 55 





closely to a heart whose aching and yearning, 
in this hour, none will ever know. 

One word more. Spare me the pain of re- 
fusing a colleague-pastor. That relation also 
has been affected by the times, and seldom is 
independent, equal, and useful. Nor would I 
subject the society to a double burden. I thank 
God that I have been able to work alone thus 
far; and I would ask for my successor the same 


privilege. Only as a colleague-parishioner would 


I help him, and help you all; standing here at 
times, if needed, in the wonted place, with-which 
the most precious memories and cherished hopes 
are identified. This pulpit, this house, all who 
have worshipped and communed with us, — all 
who have gone from us to a holier communion, 
still near in spirit and power, — make part of my 
being, and will for evermore. 

Happily, we share a fellowship circumscribed 
by no place, time, or sect. Affections find no 
barriers. If I have been true to the teachings of 
Christianity and our own faith, you can embrace 
all who have ever been with us, wherever they 





56 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


now worship, on earth or beyond. I hope never 
to hold a narrower faith. I would neither live 
nor die in any belief that required me to de- 
nounce honest differences, or dishonor the essen- 


tial truths that have been here proclaimed. If 


they have failed to produce all the fruits we de- 
sired, it may have been the preacher’s fault; 
while the humility, charity, and heavenly hope 
which I have so often witnessed among you, in 
seasons of trial and the final change, testify glo- 
riously to the power and blessing of such truths 
in all conditions of life. 

Still, my friends, dear as you are to me, — 
never so dear as now, —I desire the more for 
you greater power in the pulpit, greater piety in 
the pew and the home. I know, better than you 
perhaps suppose, how often I have failed to meet 
all your wishes; and, yet more, how far short I 
have come of the high calling of God in Christ 
our Lord. But there is another place for the 
soul’s confession. Many reasons have we all for 
humiliation, equalled only by our reasons for 
gratitude. Give me your prayers. Continue to 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 57 





me, as long as you can, your confidence and 
regard. Work with me in other ways, since we 
may not work longer in this way, for the com- 
mon good, for the furtherance of the gospel, and 
the victory of faith. Let me serve you whenever 
I can, till strength and life fail. Let me lay 
down life itself—not its burden, but its joy — 
among those I love, and sleep in the “ Pastor’s 
Rest.” 








See OR LE SOCIETY 


ON THE 


RESIGNATION OF DR. HALL. 








ACTION -OF THE SOCIETY. 


| I a meeting of the First Congregational 
Society, held on the Tuesday evening 

next following the delivery of the fore- 

going discourse, a communication was received 
from Dr. Hall, in which he formally presented his 
resignation of the office of pastor, to take place 
at the end of the current year. It was then - 
voted, that a committee be appointed to confer 


with him in regard to his resignation, so unex- 


pectedly made, as the society were not prepared 
to act upon it without ascertaining more fully his 
desires and feelings on the subject. . 

On Monday evening, Nov. 13, the committee 
had an unreserved conference with Dr. Hall, in 


relation to his resignation, and ascertained that it 





62. ~*~ °©MEMORIAL. OF REV. DR. HALL: 





was his feeling that the time had arrived when 
the interests of the society required a change of 
pastor, and that he had taken the step deliber- 
ately and finally. The committee then stated to 
him, that, as individuals, it was their earnest and 


unanimous desire that some connection between 
him and the society might, if possible, be re- 
tained; but, after fully discussing the subject, 
they were obliged to come to the conclusion that 
no such arrangement would be practicable. : 
It was then suggested to Dr. Hall by the com- 
mittee, that it would be impossible for the society 
to obtain another pastor before the close of the 
year, and that it would therefore be very desira- 
ble that the time at which his resignation would 
take effect should be extended. Dr. Hall ex- 
pressed a willingness to do all in his power to 
meet the wishes of the society in regard to the 
time at which his resignation should take effect. 
This was all that the committee felt that they 
were authorized to do under the resolution ap- 
pointing them; but they took the liberty to 


prepare, for the consideration of the society, the 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 63 





following resolutions, which, together with a re- 
port of their doings, were offered at an adjourned 
meeting of the society, held Nov. 21, and were 


unanimously accepted and adopted : — 


RESOLUTIONS. 


Leesolved, ‘That the First Congregational So- 
ciety have received with profound sorrow the 
resignation of Rev. Dr. Edward B. Hall as their 
pastor, announced from the pulpit, on the first 
Sunday in this month, and also communicated to 
them in writing on the 7th instant; and, under- 
standing it to have been made deliberately and 
finally, they accept it, although with great reluc- 
tance and regret, at the severing of so sacred 
a tie. 

RPeesolved, ‘That, inasmuch as it will be very 
difficult to fill the place occupied by Dr. Hall as 
pastor of this society, he be requested to extend 


the time when his resignation shall take effect 


to the first day of May next.* 





* Dr. Hall consented, at the request of the society, to continue his connection 
with them until the first of May. 





64 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





- Fesolved, That reviewing now the long min- 
istry of Dr. Hall to this society from its com- 
mencement, as some of us are able to do, and 


recollecting that he found us a despondent and - 


discouraged people, and at once, by his devoted 
and earnest labors, his unblemished Christian 
character, his eloquence and zeal in the pulpit, 
and his affectionate ministrations in our homes, 
raised us from our low estate, and made us a 
prosperous and happy society in all our relations 
to him, to each other, and to this community, we 
cannot help recognizing the hand of Divine 
Providence in providing for us such a friend, 
teacher, and pastor in our time of greatest need, 
and preserving him to us for so long a period, to 
minister to our highest spiritual improvement and 
our eternal welfare. | i 

Resolved, That we rejoice to know that it is 
the intention of Dr. Hall to remain with us, in 
his retirement from office, as one of this society, 
a friend and fellow-parishioner: and we also 
rejoice in believing, that as in the past, during 


his long connection with us as pastor, he has 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 65 


~ 


commanded the esteem and love of his own peo- 
ple, and respect and honor from this whole com- 
munity, and has won that peculiar attachment 
which only a faithful pastor can receive from 
those who havé been ministered unto in their 
seasons of great joy, or of sore affliction, be- 
reavement, and trouble; so, in the future, he will 
be a shining example of the beauty and worth of 
a life devoted to the highest service of God and 
of man; and, as such, we can never cease to 
reverence and love him as our minister and 
friend. 

feesolved, 'That Dr. Hall be requested to fur- 
nish this society with a copy of his discourse, 
delivered on the first Sunday of this month, that 
the same may be printed and distributed among 
its members. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, 
signed by the chairman and secretary, be com- 
municated to Dr. Hall. 





mC LL Vere THE SOCIETY 


DEATH OF DR. HALL. 











\ 


Sted ik Re NN 


hep Ol Uy TTON 8. 


Ww T a meeting of the First Congregational 
Society, held Monday evening, March 





5, 1866, the following resolutions were 
passed unanimously : — 

WueErEAs, It has pleased our Heavenly Father 
to remove from this society, by sudden death, the 
Rev. Dr. Edward B. Hall, who has been for 
more than a generation our faithful and beloved 
pastor, — 

Resolved, That while we most gratefully ac- 
knowledge the kind Providence which has per- 
mitted him for so long a period to minister to us 
as a Christian teacher and friend, and to perform 
with such marked ability and success the sacred 
duties of his high office, and while we bow with 


7O MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





resignation to the decree of an all-wise Provi- 
dence, which has suddenly called him from his 
earthly labors, we cannot but feel and reverently 
express our deep sorrow at this great bereave- 
ment. 

Resolved, That called so recently to mourn for 
the severing of the pastoral tie, which was soon 
to take effect, — although with a continuance of 
social and Christian intercourse, — this sudden 
and final separation, in this world, adds to our 
grief a further burden, which it requires all 
our fortitude and faith to bear. 

Fesolved, That we find that words are inade- 
quate fully to express our emotions, when we 
review our pastor’s long ministry, and recall to 
mind the tender interest and earnest eloquence 


which marked his services in the congregation, 


the church, and our homes;: his faithful and 
zealous Christian labors for us, and for those 
dear to us, in season and out of season, in joy 
and in woe, in life and in death; and it must be 
left to each individual who now looks back upon 
the varied experience of life, to give silent testi- 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 71 


mony to their pastor’s constant interest in every 
joy of prosperity, and his ever ready sympathy 
and support in every time of adversity: and of 
all this each heart will make and keep its own 
lasting record. 

feesolved, ‘That we shall ‘always cherish the 
memory of our beloved pastor, as one who has 
given us, in himself, an example and pattern of 
the Christian life which he has so often elo- 
quently portrayed. 

Fesolved, That, while we mourn for the death 
of Dr. Hall as our pastor and friend, we also 
deplore it as a great loss to the cause of Liberal 
Christianity, of which he was one of the ablest 
and most earnest supporters and defenders. 

_fresolved, ‘That, in common with all the friends 
of Christianity, education, good morals, freedom 
and loyalty, we lament, in the death of Dr. Hall, 
the loss of one who, in all his relations to society, 
has been the truly Christian gentleman and pa- 
triot ; always foremost in every good word and 
work calculated to ameliorate the condition and 
promote the welfare of his fellow-men, to extend 


72 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


the blessings of true liberty, and to-establish the 
foundations of just government. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the — 
family of Dr. Hall, in their severe affliction, by 
the loss of such a husband, father, and friend ; 
but we rejoice with them in the assurance that he 
has gone to the reward of a “ good and faithful 
servant,” and has left them the sweet memories 
of a life well spent in the cause of the Saviour he 
so adored, in his ministry to this people whom he 
has so long and so faithfully served, and for the 
benefit of his fellow-men whom he so affection- 
ately loved as his brethren, and whose highest 
good he so labored to advance; and we earnestly 
pray that all these memories may be sanctified to 
them by their Heavenly Father for their consola- 
tion and comfort. 

ftesolved, ‘That the president of this society 
be requested to communicate a copy of these 
resolutions to the family of Dr. Hall, and to 
cause them to be published in the daily papers of 
this city, and in the “Christian Register” and 
“Christian Inquirer.” 








Creorn OF SERVICE 


AT THE FUNERAL OF 


Rebate Ww Ak DB. A LL, D.D., 


THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 1866. 











ORDER OF: SERVICE. 


pe 


VOLUNTARY, — CHOIR. 
SELECTIONS OF SCRIPTURE,—REV. E. M. STONE. 


HYMN No. 121. 





I. 2h 
My Maker and my King, The creature of thy hand, 
To thee my all I owe; On thee alone I live; 
Thy sovereign bounty is the spring My God, thy benefits demand 
From whence my blessings flow. More praise than life can give. 
2) 4. 
Thou ever good and kind, Oh! what can I impart 
A thousand reasons move, . When all is thine before? 
A thousand obligations bind Thy love demands a thankful heart ; 
My heart to grateful love. The gift, alas, how poor! 


5. 
Oh! let thy grace inspire 
My soul with strength divine ; 
Let all my powers to thee aspire, 
And all my days be thine. 


PRAYER,—REV. A. WOODBURY. 


HYMN No. 551. 


Zi By, 
My God, I thank thee! may nothought | Full many a throb of grief and pain 
E’er deem thy chastisements severe ; Thy frail and erring child must know ; 
But may this heart, by sorrow taught, But not one prayer is breathed in vain, 
Calm each wild wish, each idle fear ! Nor does one tear unheeded flow. 

e 4. 
Thy mercy bids all nature bloom ; Thy various messengers employ ; 
The sun shines bright, and man is gay; | Thy purposes of love fulfil ; 
Thine equal mercy spreads the gloom And, ’mid the wreck of human joy, 
That darkens o’er his little day. Let kneeling faith adore thy will. 


ADDRESS, —REV. E. S. GANNETT, D.D. 
SENTENCE, — CHOIR. 


BENEDICTION,—REV. A. WOODBURY. 





DR. GANNETT’S 


POV swe a Al) Re SS. 








CADIS 12 se letee 


OMETIMES we surround the bier of 

the dead with feelings of so unmixed 

a character, that they become more 
oppressive through their simplicity. The sad- 
ness that weighs upon our hearts is relieved by 
nothing pleasant in the past, nothing bright in 
the future. Again, we are called to follow to the 


grave one, who having exhausted not the ener- 


gies of physical life alone, but the ability of use- 
fulness and even the capacity of enjoyment, we 
feel only gratitude at the thought that he has 





80 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. ° 





exchanged a worn-out existence for the freedom 
and vigor of immortality. At other times, and 
more often, the discipline which we endure in- 
cludes various elements, —the pain of separation, 
the joy of faith, the precious remembrance, the 
divine promise, the surprise, the shock, the be- 
reavement, chastened by the believer’s trust and 
the peace that God giveth. It is with such 
mingled emotions that we now look on the life- 
less form which it was most proper should, for 
one solemn hour, on its passage from the home 
where its presence had been like the clear light 
of day to the place of its final rest, lie within the 
walls of the sanctuary to which its willing feet 
had been so often turned, and amidst the tears 
of those who recall the earnest tones of a voice 
that will never again lead their souls along the 
way of prayer. We do not disturb the associa- 
tions of the house of worship by giving this hour 
to the memory of him who for more than thirty 
years has conducted its services. What is more 
in harmony with the purposes for which the 
congregation, now bereft of their teacher, have 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. SI 





usually assembled here, than the study of a life 
that illustrated the value and efficacy of the 
truth which he labored to interweave with their 
spiritual growth? Is not a good life embodied 
truth ; the visible, instead of the audible; the re- 
ality, of which language is but the sign, or, at 
best, the poor description? The preacher’s most 


effective sermons are not given from the pulpit; 


and when they who have found edification in 
listening to him collect into their thought the pas- 
sages of his daily walk among them which were 
replete with instruction, they may be taught and 
be moved as they never were by the counsel that 
fell from his lips. | 

Of Dr. Hall’s life, it may seem that they who 
have known him in the most intimate relations 
through these thirty years, — conversant with his 
open exhibition of character, watchful of the de- 
velopment of his various power, conscious of the 
influence which he exerted over them, grateful 
for the example which he set before them, — that 
they are the persons to speak of his worth. Are 
they not giving expression to their judgment of 


It 





82 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


him in this crowded assembly, this drapery of 
mourning, these sad countenances and tearful 


eyes? And if, because their hearts are too full 
for calm speech, they ask our sympathies to in- 


terpret their convictions, it would be an unkind 
denial, should we refuse to make the attempt. 
Let me carry you back, my friends, to a period 
that precedes your acquaintance with him. Fifty 
years ago,—it lacks but a few months of the 
half-century, —a youth came to Cambridge to 
seek admission into its University. It was an 
anxious day for him, and for those who with him 
passed through the ordeal of an examination 
which many of them had more reason to dread 


than he. He came from the pleasant, quiet town 


of Medford, where he had been prepared for 
college under the instruction of one who after- 
wards for many years held an important position 
in the University, and whose careful scholarship 
and conscientious discipline even then must have 
left their impress on the earliest of his pupils. 
_ Through the collegiate course he maintained an 
irreproachable character; putting aside its perils 








= ee 


; 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 83 


with an unobtrusive firmness, and accepting its 
duties with a cordial assent. If he was not a 
youth of quick parts, his steady progress towards 
a rank which placed him among the first in his 
class made his diligence the more admirable. If 
he did not draw to himself the affections of his 
fellow-students with the magnetic power which 
belongs to some natures, the constantly increas- 
ing respect and confidence which they felt, bore, 
perhaps, a better testimony to his solid worth. 
Yet I cannot but think ¢at college life was the 

type of subsequent years. He was one who grew | 
inwardly and outwardly, subjectively and rela- 
tively. His mind was seldom, if ever, rapid in 
its action. He did not seize upon conclusions, 
but approached them thoughtfully, or even cau- 
tiously. His acquisition was not like the miner’s, 
who strikes on sudden wealth; but more like the 
farmer’s, whose early and late toil is rewarded by 
the harvest. The consequence was sure but 
gradual accumulation. He was every year richer 
in knowledge and in wisdom. His character 
obeyed the same law of progress. The sympa- 


84 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





thetic came upon the surface, as it found its way 
up from the heart, and displaced that which had 
less of an attractive glow. He became more 
genial as his years multiplied. They who knew 
him at the close of life may have loved him most ~ 
warmly ; but they who had known him longest 
were the most impressed by the moral energy 
that had added sweetness to uprightness. 

After graduation, Mr. Hall spent a year in 
teaching ; a part of that time in Baltimore, where 
he passed some pleasant months, and a part in 
Beverly, where he enjoyed the society of the 
excellent man who was then the minister of 
the First Congregational church. Returning to 
Cambridge to prepare himself for a profession to 
which both his judgment and his: tastes inclined 
him, he spent three years in the Divinity School, 
and received from Professor Norton the direc- 
tion towards critical study and theological sta- 
bility, which it was difficult for any one of the 
pupils of that admirable teacher not to keep 
through life. His first settlement in the ministry 
was with the Unitarian church in the beautiful 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 85 





town of Northampton, —a church small in num- 
bers, but embracing some of the choicest spirits 


of the land. ‘The opportunities for study and 


friendship which it afforded, he was not, however, 
able to hold long in his possession ; for the Provi- 
dence that so often makes disappointment the 
avenue to success, by disabling him for the work 
which he had undertaken, opened the way to his 
entrance on a larger field of usefulness. After 
three years, he was compelled by failing health to 
leave Northampton, and to seek restoration in the 
softer climate of the West Indies. His improve- 
ment was such as to justify him, on his return, in 
accepting an invitation to preach for a year to 
the Unitarian society in Cincinnati, —a year of 
mutual benefit to him and to them. Another 
year passed, and you entreated him to make this 
place the scene of his labor. It was not without 
hesitation that he yielded to your request. “I 
came here,” you remember he said to you when 
he announced his wish to retire from the ministry, 
—“TI came here with many misgivings. Your last 
experience had been painful; your position in the 





¥ 


86 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


community was prominent; your numbers larger 
than any I had attempted to serve; while my 
own strength was not fully confirmed, and I had 
reason to fear its failure, if no other failure.” 
His decision, though formed under this feeling 
of self-distrust, was shown by the result to have 
been wisely made. He threw himself with such 
earnestness upon the work, that at the end of five 
years he was obliged again to seek the balmy 
influence of Southern skies; and, on resuming 
his loved task, pursued it still with such self- 
forgetful diligence, that a visit to Europe in the 
summer of 1850 was a needful recreation for 
both body and mind. You have expressed, in 
more fit words than I could use, the benefit which 
you soon realized from his fidelity in the office to 
which you had called him. “ Reviewing now,” 
is the language in which you signified your esti- 
mation of him immediately after his proposal to 
withdraw from this pulpit, “reviewing now the 
long ministry of Dr. Hall to this society, and 


recollecting that he found us a despondent and 


discouraged people, and at once, by his devoted 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 87 


and earnest labors, his unblemished Christian 


character, his eloquence and zeal in the pulpit, 
and his affectionate ministrations in our homes, 
raised us from our low estate, and made us a 
prosperous and happy society in all our relations’ 
to him, to each other, and to this community, 
we cannot help recognizing the hand of Divine 
Providence in providing for us such a friend, 
teacher and pastor, in our time of greatest need, 
and preserving him to us for so long a period to 
minister to our highest spiritual improvement and 
our eternal welfare.” You could not have said 
more without subjecting yourselves to the charge 
of extravagant laudation: you could not have 
said less in justice to the truth. From the day 
of his installation, the 2d of November, 1832, to 
the day of his death, these words were constantly 
obtaining ground for the emphasis which you 
have given them. ; 

One-half of his life, that part which included 
the maturity of his powers, his ripe experience, 
his most compact yet pliant energy, his widest 
influence, the years of his domestic happiness, 





88 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


and the days of his keenest suffering, were spent 
here. With his ministry here was connected all 


that was best and dearest in his experience. A 


sense of duty alone could have led him to think 


of resigning an office in which he took so much 
satisfaction. “ Nothing that the society or any 
of its members have done or not done has in- 
fluenced me to take this step now,” he said in 
your presence when he surprised you all by ask- 
ing a release from the bond by which he was 
placed in charge of your spiritual interests ; “my 
present action proceeds from an inward and 
growing conviction that a change is best for the 
society.” You differed from him in this opinion ; 
many of his personal friends and professional 
brethren differed from him; the community en- 
tertained a different judgment. But so firm was 
his determination, resting as it did on a belief that 
he ought to retire, that you were driven upon the 
necessity — you know how reluctantly —of ac- 
ceding to his request. As now, but four months 
after he made that request, we meet in these 
funeral services, does not the thought occur to 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 89 








every one, that the mysterious sympathy between 
the bodily organization and the immortal essence 
of our being may have had an influence in lead- 
ing him to that decision, and he unconsciously 
have obeyed some indication of the failing sys- 
tem that it was time for him to lay aside the im-: 
plements which must soon drop from his hand? 
It is not easy, when we make the friend. of 
whom we are speaking the subject of our study, 
to separate the man from the minister. Others 
may find more than I to regret in this difficulty. 
Is it not a mistake, to carry the desire for a 
natural expression of each one’s individuality so 
far as to require him to avoid all professional 
conventionalism? Is it not a still greater mis- 
take, to insist upon a minister’s renouncing every 
peculiarity of manner, dress, or conversation 
which might serve to remind others that he is a 
teacher of religion? He need not lose the per- 
sonal in the professional character: if he be an 
honest man, the former will give its own com- 


plexion to the latter. He need not become a 


stiff or awkward part of the social machinery, pe- 


I2 





go MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 








dantic, solemn, or disagreeable, because he never 
forgets the function with which he is clothed. 
He may wear every grace of the Christian 
ministry without putting on the robe of priestly 
arrogance. It is not religion, but ecclesiastical 


misconception, that has made the crook the sign 


of authority rather than of tender care. Dr. Hall 
neither obtruded nor disguised the clerical rela- 
tion in which he felt that he stood to the com- 


munity.. He regarded himself as a religious” 


teacher, not in the pulpit only, or to those alone 
whom he called his people, but always and in 
every company, in the familiar intercourse of 
the week as well as in the special offices of the 
Lord’s day; one, who having sought the privi- 
lege of unfolding the gospel of Christ to his 
followers, it became his duty to maintain the au- 
thority of the Christian law at all times. Ought 
we not to lift into importance in these days, when 
there is so much of a careless or ill-chosen free- 
dom, the example of a manner which never 
descended to levity, a style of conversation that 
reminded us of serious interests rather than of 





ee Pe eee ee eee ee 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. Ol 





trivial pursuits, and an habitual air of communion. 
with the highest subjects of thought? 

His appreciation of the ministry was such as 
only a mind touched by the spirit of holiness and 
a heart of deep sensibility could entertain. He 
knew into what sacred intimacies it introduces 
him who is set apart to its service. “ Supposing 
the attachment to be mutual,” he says in thé dis- 
course from which I have already extracted one 
passage; “motives pure; duties performed not 
only with fidelity, but alacrity; the interests of 
every family and every member of the society 
studied, and, as far as known, impartially pro- 
moted; and the whole office and ministration as 
disinterested as nature allows, —it 1s not easy to 
over-rate the preciousness or sacredness of this 
relation.” Could any words of ours better de- 
scribe his own discharge of the work to which 
he gave all that he had of strength or will? Do 
you wonder now, did you wonder at the time, 


that he poured out his feeling in the fervid lan- 


guage which follows? —“ Oh! there is nothing in 
public relations to compare with this. There is 





Q2 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


nothing in private relations that does not enter 
into it. Literally, from the cradle to the grave, 
and reaching far beyond the grave, returning 


for ever to the soul’s memory and fellowship, is 


the power of this sacred connection and recipro- 
cated affection.” In regard to the design of the 
ministry, our brother held views drawn from his 
interpretation of the New Testament. He did 
not consider the chief purpose of Christianity _ 
accomplished in elevating the tone of public 
morals, or in calling into existence the philan- 
thropic enterprises of the day. Prompt as he 
was to lend his support to these enterprises, and 
as ready to give encouragement to a healthful 
literature as to bear his part-in theological dis- 
cussion, he accepted the religion of Christ as the 
means of redemption from sin and of inward 
sanctification. In one of his published essays, 
in which he exposes the errors that vitiate the 
popular doctrine of the atonement, he contrasts 
with them the “views of the gospel,” which he 
was desirous of recommending. “Have not 
these,” he asks, “ power to loosen the thraldom 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 93 





of passion, to dispel the mists of ignorance and 
doubt, to wake from the sleep of sin and death, 
to turn_us from iniquity and bring us to God? 
They ave power. Thanks be to God, they can 
win souls to Christ. They can act by fear or 
love upon the heart of the believer and the scoff- 
er. They can pierce the conscience of the 
sinner, and renew the strength of the fainting 
disciple. They can strike upon the soul, as by 
the powtr of God, and break its iron hardness, 
search its secret depths, warm its coldest re- 
cesses, and illumine its heaviest darkness.” We 


can easily imagine what were the topics of 


preaching, and what the aims, of one who wrote 
these sentences. 


In religious belief, Dr. Hall did not allow him- 
self to occupy an equivocal position. His opin- 
ions were distinctly formed and firmly held; 
bringing him into antagonism with other opin- 
ions, which, on this side or that, demanded a 
faith or a freedom for which he could find no 
justification in the Scriptures, but never involv- 
ing him in angry dispute or unfriendly differ- 





94 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





ence. He was a Unitarian, in opposition to the 
prevalent notions respecting the Divine existence 
and character, the nature of man, and the ex- 
piatory value of the Saviour’s death; but how 
free he was from sectarian animosity or super- 
ciliousness, the relations which he cultivated 
beyond his own denomination, and the esteem in 
which he was held by this community, are suffi- 


cient proofs. He was attached by the strongest 


convictions of his life to what he called, with a 
fond emphasis, “the old evangelical faith,” that 
listens to Christ as the anointed Messenger of 
God, and kneels in gratitude at his cross; but 
how far he was from cherishing severity of judg- 
ment or unkindness of temper toward those who 
put a more rationalistic construction on the facts 
or doctrines of Christianity, may be learned from 
the respect of which he was. everywhere the ob- 
ject, and from his eager recognition, even in 
private correspondence with one whose affinities 
were like his own, of “an honest desire to do 
good,” and of a successful pursuit of their desire, 
on the part of some whose hberal tendencies 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 95 





seemed to him to lead them away from “the truth 
as itis in Jesus.” That there was nothing lax in 
either the practical or the doctrinal exposition 
which he gave to the truth is conclusively shown 
by the first paragraph of the tract to which I 
have just referred. “All men are sinners. The 
word of God declares this unequivocally and most 
solemnly. Universal observation confirms it. 
Human nature shows it in all ages and all cir- 
cumstances. Every conscience attests it; or, if 
it do not, it is because of its own deadness or 
perversion. Every man must feel that he has 
transgressed the laws of God, and if iniquity 
were strictly marked against him he must be 
condemned. He needs forgiveness. The mercy 
of God is his only reliance. How is _ that 
mercy to be obtained? The question has been 
anxiously asked in all ages; and reason and 
nature, superstition and philosophy, have been 
tasked in vain for an answer. It is a question 
which Revelation alone can definitely answer.” 
We find neither timidity nor ambiguity in such 
language. 


96 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


A minister though he was in the whole pur- 


pose and plan of his life, a diligent student, and a 
devoted pastor, Dr. Hall did not confine himself 
to parochial duties. He took that broad view of 
the ministry which brings it into connection with 
all social affairs and human interests. Without 
neglecting more immediate obligations, he was 
not slow to espouse any good cause that asked 
his aid. By such timely service, he extended 
his influence in this city, and won consideration 
elsewhere. To education, to temperance, to 
peace, to freedom, to patriotism, he contributed 
the sympathies of a generous conservatism and 
a sound liberality. He neither reverenced the 
past too much to be unmindful of signs of prog- 
ress in the present, nor indulged such sanguine 
hope for the future that he was blind to obstacles 
which only a patient zeal can overcome. By 
temperament cautious, held back by principle 
from rash undertakings or violent proceedings, 
yet an outspoken advocate of the right, and a 
firm believer in its final triumph, he united in 


happy proportion elements of character and of 








a > Re ake eee ee cee 
ee ee ee oa , y=" 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 97 








conduct that are often brought into conflict. By 
a versatile activity, and a moderation that 
avoided extremes, he drew to himself the con- 
fidence of the community. His counsel was 
sought, and the labor which he cheerfully per- 
formed was gratefully acknowledged. The seat 
that for twenty-five years he filled on the Board 
of Trustees of the University, in which Provi- 
dence may rightfully take an affectionate pride, 
was but one of many proofs in what esteem he 
was held. In no sense a worldly man, he had 
a large share of that worldly wisdom which is 
necessary for the proper management of affairs. 
The theoretical never led him off from the 
practical. I presume, that, in matters of busi- 
ness, his judgment would have been as worthy 
of reliance as that of most men who had spent 
their lives in secular industry. ‘To the practical 
quality of his mind, the good sense with which 
he chose and the discretion with which he pur- 
sued his ends, we must ascribe in part the 
success that rewarded his efforts. The prosper- 


ous condition of this religious society in its 
13 


98 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


various interests, social, financial, and spiritual, 


in its organized worship, its liberal charities, and 


the close union of its members, is the result of. 
that judicious care which never neglected oppor- 
tunities and never outran circumstances. The 
Ministry-at-large is indebted to him for an 
impulse which projected it into favor; and the 
sister church, which to-day is a sincere mourner, 
can bear witness to his uniform and often efh- 
cient friendliness. 

In wider circles of acquaintance and influence, 
he was almost as well known as here. Never 
inattentive to his work at home, he found time to 
render much useful service abroad. His brethren 
in the ministry welcomed his presence, and 
profited by his advice. Whenever he appeared in 
their pulpits, he could not mistake the gratifica- 
tion he afforded ; while they who heard him could 
not be insensible to the benefit they received. 
The universal feeling of bereavement which our 
churches acknowledged when the intelligence 
of his death reached them, was enough to mark 
the place he had in their regards. The first 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 99 








person to whom I communicated the information 
on Sunday morning, after an involuntary cry of 
surprise, exclaimed, “Oh, what a light has gone 
out!” Throughout our denomination, his name 
was as a household word. Meadville invited him 
to spread the fruits of his ripe wisdom before her 
young men. Antioch will never in future be 
without a memorial of his existence. Harvard 
long ago laid her honors on the head of this 
worthy son. It was not among the least of the 
marks of public confidence which were _ be- 
stowed on him, that he was for several years 
chosen President of the American Unitarian 
Association, till he declined a re-election. When 
it was known that he had decided to leave this 
pulpit for a younger incumbent, we congratu- 
lated ourselves that he would still be seen and 
heard in the meetings which alike represent 
and increase the force of our body. 

From so busy a professional life, little time 
could be snatched for any employment that was 
not connected with its main purpose. It can. 
hardly be said that Dr. Hall turned his attention 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 








to any other work than such as fell within the 
scope of his ministry. The one task to which 
he set himself, that may, even more than his 
general usefulness, keep his name before the 
eyes of other generations, was the preparation of 
a volume which required a rare union of deli- 
cacy and skill in availing himself of the ma- 
terials at his disposal. The subject of the 
Memoir, to the writing of which he brought 
the same conscientiousness as to the composition 
of his discourses for the pulpit, was one of 
whom it was difficult to speak in terms which 
they who did not know her should not deem 
the rhapsody of partial friendship. A woman 
of such singular goodness, yet such harmonious 
excellence, such perfect simplicity, yet such 
various wealth of character, such strong yet. 
quiet faith, such fervent yet self-controlled love, 


such modesty, with such energy, such active 


disinterestedness, and such hopeful piety, it was 
a hazardous undertaking to describe her, in 
whom they who knew her best could see no lack 


and no excess. Her biographer wisely let her 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. IOI 








describe herself in the extracts which he gave 
from letters written in the frankness of trustful 
affection. How well he executed his task the 
approval of the public voice has declared. He 
has done what but few authors are able to do: 
he has made a permanent addition to the litera- 
ture of the world. The lesson which he wished 
to inculcate through this example he himself 
explains in two sentences,— one at the begin- 
ning, the other at the close, of the book, — 
which deserve, like choice pictures on the walls 
of our houses, to be hung up in the chambers 
of memory. “It may serve to show,” he says, 
in the Introduction, “that the sphere of woman, 
even the most domestic and silent, is broad 
enough for the most active intellect and the 
largest benevolence.” And, as he dismisses his * 
work, he remarks, “If ¢zs appear, it is enough; 
that religion, with or without rank, wealth, 
beauty, rare endowments, varied accomplish- 
ment, or any singularity, can_lift woman to the 
highest distinction, and confer the most enduring 
glory, —that of filling well, not the narrow, but 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





the wide and divine realm of home.” It is a 
touching circumstance, and one that has almost 
the sublimity of a prophetic act, that the last 
effort of Dr. Hall’s life was the affixing of his 
signature to a paper intended to convey the 
copyright of his Memoir of Mrs. Ware to the 
American Unitarian Association. The strongly 
marked yet tremulous character of the chirog- 
raphy shows with what difficulty he guided the 
pen but three hours before his death. 

It is from the impression that such a life as 
that of our friend is suited to make upon us, 
rather than from a keen analysis of his charac- 
ter, that we shall draw the instruction with 
which our hearts may be enriched. We shall in 


vain look for any extraordinary incidents in his 


* life, or any salient points in his character. It 
was through a happy combination of elements 
that were made helpful to one another, and 
through an industry which never relaxed its dili- 
gence, that he was -enabled to accomplish so 
much. No one faculty obtained or originally 
possessed a disproportionate pre-eminence. He 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I03 


had but little imagination; his understanding 
“was vigorous, but not massive; his reflective 
powers were not superior to those of most other 
educated men; his executive ability was the 
result of training, rather than of original endow- 
ment. He was neither a brilliant writer nor 
a powerful speaker. A deliberative assembly 
would not have been borne away by the vehe- 
mence of his logic, nor a popular meeting been 
electrified by the splendor of his eloquence. 
And yet he commanded attention, inspired con- 
fidence, secured respect, and exerted an influ- 
‘ence that spread and deepened with every year 
of his life. The most remarkable feature in 
his personal history was constant improvement. 
Steadily, quietly, but unceasingly, he added .to 
his resources, intellectual, moral, spiritual. A 
wise and good man when he first came among 
you, he was a wiser and a better man at the end 
of the first five, and the next five, and the next 
ten years; a wiser and a better, and I think I 


may say a happier man, the farther he advanced 


into the mystery of existence. He had many 





IO4 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


blessings; and he saw in them the testimonies of 
a goodness that he adored. He had sharp sor- 
rows; and he regarded them as methods which 
“the Father” used to draw the filial heart to him- 
self. Beneath his own roof he tasted the sweet- 
est joys which home can yield; and across his 
own threshold he had followed one and another 
to the grave. He was not a stranger to the dis- 
cipline which tries the spirit by its consciousness 
of want and weakness: but he had gathered 
strength from self-conflict; and, though the oc- 


casion never crossed his path, if it had fallen in 


his way he would have shown himself to be one 


ot those — 


‘‘to whom a strength is given, 
A will, a self-constraining energy, 
A faith which feeds upon no earthly hope, 
Which never thinks of victory; but, content 
In its own consummation, combating 
Because it ought to combat, (even as love 
Is its own cause, and cannot have another, ) 
And conscious that to find in martyrdom 
The stamp and signet of most perfect life 
Is all the science that mankind can reach, — 
Rejoicing fights, and still rejoicing falls.” 


os 








lation a 


pt eg Qink, Var. 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I0O5 








He was not called to bear this test, or give this 
proof of the consecration which he had made of 
his whole being to the glorious end, for which 
humanity is subjected to the toil and struggle 
and peril of the experience through which it must 
pass that it may reach perfection. He was not 
doomed to fall, that his defeat might swell the tri- 
umph of the foes of God and man. But not less 
conspicuous, nor less true, was the quality in his 
life which gave it its great value and power. 
Who could mistake this quality? When I was 
able to collect my thoughts after hearing of his 
removal, the knowledge of which came to most 


of us like the lightning’s blinding flash, the 


one word that seemed to me to be the central 
point in my recollection of him was faithful, — 
Jatthful. It would yield its place to no other 
word. No other word would fill its place. He 
had been a faithful minister, a faithful man; 
faithful in public and in private; faithful in his 
home, —let me be beware lest, with too bold a 
step, I intrude where only they who enjoy the 
privilege of intimacy may pause to say, “God be 
14 





106 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


your comforter !”—faithful in his pastoral rela- 
tions, as so many aching hearts attest; faithful 
in his delivery of the message with which he 
was intrusted for the congregation when he met 
them here; faithful to every opportunity of dif- 
fusing a wholesome influence around him; faith- 
ful in self-culture and self-discipline, — for, if he 
was not, how could he have maintained such 
integrity of life before ten thousand eyes against 
the frequent pressure of unpropitious circum- 
stances ?—faithful in the closet, since only in 
communion with God could he have acquired 
that purity and solidity of character which came 
under our notice; faithful according to that 
which had been committed to him, — whether 
ten talents or two it matters not, so long as the 


example stands complete, and the encourage- 


ment ample, for our imitation. ? 

I lingered over the word. I could not resist 
the fascination and the authority with which it. 
held me. At last I released myself from this 
monotone of thought, only to be caught within 
the grasp of another word that appeared not less 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. LO7, 


to belong to him,—“ Done.” It held me as I re- 


peated the sentence so appropriate in this new 
connection, —“ Well done, good and faithful ser- 
vant!” It seemed to me to separate itself from 
the rest of the line, and to stand in its own 
absolute meaning. Done,—finished,—the work 
ended, —the time arrived for us to give him up, 
— the earthly life completed as well as closed, — 
was this its meaning? The more I thought, the 
more ready was I to accept it in this sense. Why 
not? It does not lessen{our faith in another life, 
to believe that this had rounded its circle. We 
borrow fresh assurance of immortality from such 
a truth. ‘To die when earth has no more work 
to demand of us, is to enter on our heavenly 
progress at the right moment. He of whom I 
am speaking once added, after quoting from the 
lips of another the expression, “ He has passed 
on,” “Passed on! Beautiful thought! He has 
not stopped, he has not ceased to be; he has 
passed on, in faith and duty and love, to higher 
labors and undefiled reward.” Shall not we say 
the same of the friend whose mortal vestment 





108 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


alone is waiting for its burial? Yet, before I fol- 
low the spirit to its new abode, I must tarry a little 
longer near this sign of the past,—done. Had 
he not finished his work? Had not the earthly 
life reached its natural limit? Imgnorantly indeed, 
- but truly, he was the prophet of his own depar- 
ture. He did not know, when he delivered back 
into your hands the ministry which thirty-three 


years before you had placed in his hands, that he 


could have retained it but a few weeks longer. 
He did not know, when the organ of sight sud- 
denly failed to discharge its office, and he stood 
before you conducting without book or paper the 
services of this place in their usual order, that 
he would never again turn the leaves of the 
sacred volume from which he had drawn so 
much for your instruction. He did not know, 
when he repeated the lines, — 


‘‘ My God, thy benefits demand 
More praise than breath can give,” — 


that his next offering of praise would be made 
where the angels strike their harps of holy sound. 





¥ 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. IOQ 





Yet each step was a preparation for the next, 
and for the last. He had lived out his appointed 
term. The unseen messenger of the Divine love 
touched the thread which was just ready to break, 
and the released spirit “passed on,”— passed up, 
passed into the blissful recompense of the faith- 
ful. 

He had asked for a little longer period of co- 
operation with you in behalf of the interests 
which were nearest to his heart. “ Work with 
me in other ways,” was his entreaty as he divest- 
ed himself of the ministerial relation, — “ work 
with me in other ways, since- we may not work 
longer in this way, for the common good, for the 
furtherance of the gospel and the victory of 
faith. Let me serve you whenever I can, till 
strength and life fail.” How characteristic the 
wish! How like his whole course the request 
conveyed in those words! Work, with you, 
always. But he knew that the end must at some 
time come; and, alike without dread and with- 
out impatience, he looked forward to the dimly 


descried hour. What was his desire, what his 





ad 


“MEMORIAL OF REV.’ DR. HALL. 





prayer, in view of that hourr “Let me lay 
down life itself—not its burthen, but its joy — 
among those I love, and sleep in the ‘Pastor’s 
Rest.’” Sooner than thou didst anticipate, faith- 
ful laborer, has thy wish been granted. ‘The life, 
of which not the burthen, but the joy was felt to 
the end, thou hast laid down among those dear 
to thee. With sorrowing but with tranquil hearts 
—for thou hast taught them submission to the 
Supreme will—they shall bear thee to thy sleep 
in the spot which by its very name soothes our 
grief, — “the Pastor’s Rest.” Rest there, friend 
and brother, in undisturbed repose, while a thou- 
sand tender associations shall hallow thy grave, 
and careful nature shall clothe it with verdure, 
as if to remind us that thine will be a green and 


fragrant memory. Rest there, did I say? Sleep 


in the place where dust returns to dust? Forgive 
me, believers in a gospel of everlasting life! 
Forgive me, thou who hast put on thine immor- 
tality! Not here, where he pointed the mourner 
to heaven; nor there, whence he lifted the eye 


of faith to the spiritual mansions; nor in any 











Pe ee a pee ee, ty ee ee 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. Tit 





place, nor at any time, —let us speak of him as 
dead. Itis asad and cold word. Alive, alive, 
more conscious of life than he could be while 
with us; with undimmed sight and renewed | 
strength ; welcomed by those who had gone be- 
fore him; surrounded by the holy and happy 
ones in whose society the intimacies of earth are 
not forgotten, though the sympathies of the soul 
be quickened; gazing on that face radiant with 
light which he loved to study as he saw it through 
the gloom of crucifixion, or prostrate in the rap- 
ture of adoration before Him who is at once 
hidden and revealed by the ineffable glory; 
drinking in with delight the knowledge which 
on every side invites his enjoyment, or moving 
in rapid flight to execute the errands of Divine 
grace on which he is sent through realms of 
being that have never passed across the astrono- 
mer’s field of vision, or bending in fond ministries 
of influence over those whom he has left to bear a 
little longer life’s toil and peril,—so will we 
think of him. And, as our thoughts climb up to 
the blessed experience of which he is now a 


EES MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


partaker, our ears shall be unsealed, and the 
-echo of that salutation which greeted him when 
he passed through the flaming gates into the 
celestial abodes shall fall like heavenly music on 
our spirits, —“ Well done, good and faithful ser- 
vant! enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.° 





: ht OAS ear 
BG OY an 


VOL 1s 


Dik DEATHwOr DR. 


WALL: 





= 








MOU EC ES. 


[From the “‘ Monthly Journal of the American Unitarian Association.’’] 


EDWARD BROOKS HALL, D.D. 


UR. circle of. churches has met of late - 
no bereavement which will be so widely 
and deeply felt as that which has be- 

fallen them in the death of Dr. Hall, of Provi- 

dence, R.I. He had been for so many: years 





heartily and actively devoted to all the relations 
and duties of his profession, so conspicuously and 
so acceptably too, that the blank which his de- 
parture leaves is especially great. Not alone in 
his own immediate sphere of ministerial and pas- 
toral labor, but wherever our faith had planted its 
institutions, religious, educational, or eleemosy- 


nary, will his ability and faithfulness as a preach- 


116 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


er of the everlasting gospel, his love of popular 
education and of sound learning, and his ready 
and earnest benevolence, be gratefully and long 
remembered and honored. 

Edward Brooks Hall was a native of Medford, 
Mass. He entered Harvard University at Com- 


mencement in the year 1816, and graduated in 


1820, in the class of which Drs. Furness and 
Gannett are surviving members. A year spent 
as a teacher partly in the city of Baltimore, and 
partly in Beverly, Mass., placed him just so 
much in their rear in his theological studies; and 
he left the Divinity School at Cambridge, in the 
Class of 1824, with the late Dr. Young, of Bos- 
ton, and Rev. (now Hon.) Charles W. Upham, 
of Salem, Mass. On the 16th August, 1826, 
he was ordained pastor of the Unitarian Church 
at Northampton; from which office, filled to the 
~ utmost acceptance of a small but devoted people, 
he was obliged by enfeebled health to retire after 
a little more than three years’ service. In No- 
vember, 1829, he resigned his charge, and spent 
the following winter under the genial skies of the 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 7 


island of Cuba. He returned in the spring of 
1830; and, finding his health improved, soon 
after yielded to an invitation to give a year to the 
First Unitarian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 
climate of the interior aided the work of restora- 
tion; and, on the 14th of November, 1832, he 
was installed pastor of the First Congregational 
Church at Providence. We well remember, as 
almost the only apprehension we indulged on his 
accession to that arduous and important post, our 
anxiety lest the still delicate condition of his 
health might soon prove inadequate for its de- 
mands. He felt it himself; for, in allusion to that 
epoch of his life, he said to his congregation in 
the sermon he preached on the 5th of last Novem- 
ber, immediately previous to his formal resigna- 
tion, “ My own strength was not fully confirmed, 
and I had reason to fearits failure.” The appre- 
hension, in a degree, was realized; for five years - 
“brought in the end,” he adds, “the necessity of 
absence for a short time in a Southern clime.” 
The frame that seemed so unstrung became now 


braced anew for a longer continuous term of 


118 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





duty than ever before. Not till thirteen years 
more had passed did it again require repairs ; 
and from the year 1850, when the anxiety of a 
generous people sent him abroad for the benefit 


of a sea-voyage and recreation in foreign travel, 


he labored most industriously, faithfully, ably, 


and successfully in his chosen and beloved work 
until within a few months of his death. The 
resolutions respectively passed by his parishion- 
ers at the time of his resignation, and after his 
death, were no words of form. ‘They were as 
honorable to them as to him; speaking as they 
did, honestly and affectionately, their just appre- 
ciation of pastoral services most faithfully and 
lovingly rendered for a period of time covering 
more than that of a generation; of a religious 
teacher, pastor, and friend, whose words and 
whose example had ever been in beautiful har- 
mony; of civic, philanthropic, charitable, edu- 
cational, patriotic labors, always spontaneously 
and generously given, but with no dereliction of 
special obligations or duties belonging to his high 
office in the Church. The flourishing commu- 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. IIQ 





nity in which he lived and labored so long ; its ad- 
mirable public schools, its Atheneum, its various 
literary and benevolent institutions, in helping 
which he always took a leading part; its social 
and religious life, of which he was at once a dis- 
tinguished ornament and conservator, — all echo 
back, confirm, and justify the estimate of his own 
immediate parochial charge. The honorary de- 
gree of Doctor of Sacred Theology, conferred 
upon him by his Alma Mater in 1848, was but a 
well-merited token of the high esteem in which 
she held her son as a Christian minister and theo- 
logian; while Brown University, at Providence, 
honored his love of sound learning by calling 
him into her counsels as a member of her Board 
of Trustees as early as 1841, a post which he 
held till his death. 


Dr. Hall was early married to Harriet, daugh- 


ter of the late Dr. Ware, sen., Professor of 
Divinity in Harvard University; and by her had 
six children, of whom Rev. Edward H. Hall, of 
Plymouth, Mass., is the only survivor. His 


second wife, who also survives him, was Louisa 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





Jane, sister of Hon. John C. Park, and daughter 
of the late Dr. John Park; the latter gratefully 
remembered as the accomplished and successful’ 


Principal of a school of the highest grade for 


young ladies, which he established in this city, 
whence he removed to, and died at, Worcester. 
Of this marriage a daughter remains. 

And now, after the admirable analysis of Dr. 
Hall’s character given on the day of his burial by 
his classmate and friend, Dr. Gannett, in -his 
funeral address, there seems nothing to add. 
Sharing profoundly, however, in the conscious- 
ness of his great loss to that which lay so near 
his heart, — the cause of our own precious faith, 
and to the churches which sustain it; proud, we 
confess, of the honor which his marked example 
of active fidelity to the demands of every rela- 
tion and office to which he was called did to 
that faith, and desirous as we are to commend 
that example to the widest admiration and imita- 
tion; grateful, too, for the constant and efficient 
aid which he always gave to our Association, 


of which he was at one time President, — we 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I21 





place on record our concurrent testimony to his 
worth, our regret at his departure; a regret, how- 
ever, oh how gently tempered and subdued by 
the remembrance that his death was but the seal 
to a fidelity and completeness in duty, as rare as 
it was eminent; that it came just as he desired, 
among those he loved, and had served in every 
way that he could, till strength and life failed! 

Dr. Hall was sixty-five years of age. His 
health of late had become impaired by an organic 
disease of the heart; and, a few weeks before 
his death, he was threatened with blindness. 
‘Two Sundays previously, he preached in his own 
pulpit extemporaneuusly, reciting memoriter the 
Scripture lesson and the hymns. The sweet 
submission of his spirit under this trial was a 
striking and beautiful illustration of the power of 
his faith; and the divine mercy in suddenly, all 
prepared as he was, calling him away before the 
burden of incapacity should have fallen upon 
him, and where his dimmed sight should be ex- 
changed for open vision, must be reverentially 
and gratefully confessed. 

16 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


The funeral services were most judicious and 
fit. Rev. Dr. Hill, of Worcester, the former 
pastor of Mrs. Hall in that city, and a familiar 
friend of her late husband, offered prayer at the 
home with the immediate family. The body was 
then borne to the church on the shoulders of 
colored men, for the freedom of whose race Dr. 


Hall was always an earnest advocate, preceded 


by the pall-bearers, and followed by the male 
kindred of the deceased, his brethren of the 


clergy from various places, the members of his 


congregation, and citizens. At the church, the 
pulpit being draped in black, relieved only by a 
cross of white camelias; and the coffin, which 
was also covered by black broadcloth, and on 
which lay another floral cross and crown, being 
placed beneath it, —the public services proceed- 
ed. These consisted of two hymns, which were 
favorites of Dr. Hall, and but recently during his 
short confinement repeated by him to his daugh- 
ter, — the one Professor Norton’s, “My God, I 
thank thee,” &c.; the other, Mrs. Steele’s, “ My 
Maker and my King,” &c., with appropriate an- 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 123 





thems; reading of Scripture by our brother, the 


eer 
Rev. E. M. Stone, minister at large in Provi- 


dence; prayer by Rev. Augustus Woodbury, 
pastor of Westminster Church in that city; and 
the funeral address by Rev. Dr. Gannett, of Bos- 
ton. After the benediction by Mr. Woodbury, 
the body was borne, as. before, to the hearse, 
and the funeral cortége of seventy carriages at- 
tended it to the cemetery; where Dr. Osgood, of 
New York, read portions of the burial service ; 
the hymn, “I would not live alway,” was sung 
by the choir of Dr. Hall’s church; and the bene- 
diction was pronounced by Dr. Farley, of Brook- 
lyn, N.Y. Both officiating clergymen had been 
intimately associated with the, deceased in pro- 
fessional labors in Providence, — Dr. Farley as 
the first, and Dr. Osgood as the second min- 
ister of Westminster Church in that city; Dr. 
Hedge, of Brookline, Mass., who was unavoid- 
ably absent on this occasion, having been the 
third and the immediate predecessor of the 
present incumbent, Mr. Woodbury. The ex- 


perience of this Association is amongst the 





I24 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 











4 


cherished remembrances of their professional 
lives. zx 

In the “ Pastor’s Rest,” at the beautiful ceme- 
tery of Swan Point,—a spot set apart by his 
society for the burial-place of its pastors, — re- 
pose his mortal remains; attended there by a 
cortége — which reached more than a mile — of 
hearts that honored and loved him living, and 
mingled their gratitude with their sorrow now 
that he was dead. The spirit of sect seemed 
exorcised from that burial. ‘The pall was borne, 
in part, by representative clergymen of the 
different Protestant churches of the city: Dr. 
Caldwell, of the Baptist; Bishop Clark, of the - 
Episcopal; Rev. Mr. Fay, of the Universalist ; 
Rev. Mr. Trafton, of the Methodist; Dr. To- 
bey, of the Friends; and President Sears (Bap- 
tist), of the University: while Drs. Bigelow, of 
Boston; Farley, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Lincoln, 
of Hingham; and Briggs, of Salem, — repre- 
sented our own body; and Nehemiah S. Draper 
and Joseph Balch, Esqs., the church and society 
of our departed brother. 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I25 





[From ‘“ Providence Journal’? of Monday morning, March 5, 1866.] 
DEATH OF REV. DR. HALL. 


Or how many of our eminent citizens has death 
bereft our city during the last few months! 
How rapidly are the fathers and leaders of this 
generation passing away! How often, during 
the past half-year, has it been our sad office in 
these columns to pay our last tribute of respect 
to those who by their age, their wisdom, their 
long public services, their exalted character, had 
won the almost filial affection and reverence 
of this community! Only a few weeks ago, 
we recorded the death of the oldest pastor in 
the city, —the venerable Rector of St. John’s 
Church, who for about sixty years had minis- 
tered at the same altar. And now the preacher 
next in the order of seniority, the pastor of the 
First Congregational Church and Society (Uni- 
tarian), the Rev. Dr. Edward Brooks Hall, 


who for a third of a century has gone in and 


»* 


126 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


out before his beloved people, has also departed — 


for ever. He died, very suddenly, on Saturday 
afternoon, of a disease of the heart. 

It is well known to our readers, that last No- 
vember, at the expiration of the thirty-third year 
of his pastorate here, he tendered his resigna- 
tion, to take effect on the first of January, 
because, as he said in the discourse in which he 


announced his resignation, he had no right to 


expect that he could long perform the many ° 


duties, or bear the responsibilities, of a large 
and growing parish. Still he was not conscious 
then of failing strength; and, in accordance 
with the urgent request of his parish, he con- 
sented to defer his resignation until the first of 
May, and continued as usual to discharge the 
duties of his office. 

So vigorous was his purpose, that when, a 
few weeks ago, his eyes failed him, with all the 
determination and courage of youth he set him- 
self to committing to memory the hymns and the 
passages of Scripture which he wished to use in 
the pulpit, and so, for two Sundays, conducted 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 127 





his services without aid. His hearers and he 
himself were gratified with his success in this 
effort; and he longed to repeat the exercise. 
He loved his profession; and, though he felt that 
the whole charge of a large and important par- 
ish would soon be too much for his strength, he 
desired to labor as a minister to the last. 

In the discourse to which we have referred, he 
said of his vocation, “It is a calling, not only of 
my choice, but of an increasing affection. I 
doubt if any one ever loved it more. No office, 
honor, or wealth, I am persuaded, can yield me 
more full and pure satisfaction. Not till I have 
lost all power of action shall I willingly relin- 
quish the profession or work of the ministry.” 


In the summer of 1864, his son returned from 


South Carolina in a condition of sickness far 
more advanced than had been supposed by the 
family; his disease having been, as is believed, 
caused by exposure while in the service of his 
country. The anxieties and grief connected with 
his son’s illness and death left their traces on 
Dr. Hall’s system, from which he never fully re- 





128 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





covered. He was seen by others to be less vigor- 
ous than before, though he was not willing to ac- 
knowledge it, and appeared not to be aware of it. 

The symptoms of his last sickness did not at- 
tract much attention till about a fortnight before 
his death, though, for a year or two, there had 
been occasional difficulty of breathing, as well as 
loss of strength and flesh. Within two weeks 
past, he has suffered much; and it became evi- 
dent that there was an organic affection of the 
heart. | 

He preached for the last time on the first Sun- 
day in February, and was in the pulpit two 
weeks after that. At about half-past five on 
Saturday afternoon, while sitting in his chair, he 
recited the following lines from the well-known 
hymn by Mrs. Steele : — 


“Thou ever good and kind! 
A thousand reasons move, 
A thousand obligations bind 
My heart to grateful love. 


The creature of thy hand, 
On thee alone I live; 

My God, thy benefits demand 
More praise than life can give.” 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





Perhaps because he was so distressed for 
breath, he substituted the word éreath for the 
word /fe in the last line, and, as he completed 
the line, fell from his chair to the floor, and 
expired. 

The public had not been aware of his danger- 
ous condition, and were therefore quite unpre- 
pared for the announcement of his sudden death. 
The sorrowful tidings of his decease will awaken 
sincere grief in the hearts of many, far beyond 
the limits of our city and State. 

Dr. Hall was born in Medford, Mass., Sept. 2, 
1800, and graduated at Harvard College in 
1820, in the same class with several eminent 
divines, among whom were Dr. Gannett, Dr. 
moung, and “Dr.--Furneéss.. He received: the 
honorary degree of S.T.D. from that institu- 
tion in 1848. He passed through the Divinity 


School at Cambridge, graduating there in 1824. 


He was first settled as minister at Northamp- 
ton, Mass., where he remained four years. He 
was then interrupted in his labors by ill health. 
He travelled for about two years, and preached 

17 





130 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


one year in Cincinnati. He was installed as 
minister of the First Congregational Society in 
Providence, Nov. 14, 1832, and remained its 
pastor till his death,—a period of more than 
thirty-three years; rather more than half his 
life-time. The ministries of three successive 
pastors — Drs. Hitchcock, Edes, and Hall— ex- 
tended over more than eighty years. During his 


long pastorate, Dr. Hall was twice obliged to 


leave the society for a short time, on account of 
ill health, once making a journey to Europe. 
Of his ministrations to his flock, in private 
and in public, this is perhaps not the place to 
speak in detail. The voices of his afflicted 
people will do justice to the talent and industry 
and affection which have been instrumental in 
securing such prosperity for the now large and 
important parish; and some of his loving clerical 
brethren will portray, as we are incompetent to 
do, the intellectual, moral, and religious endow- 
ments of the preacher who has wielded so large 
an influence, not only in his church, but through- 


out his denomination, and even far outside of it. 








MEMORIAL OF .REV. DR. HALL. £31 


One of his parishioners, who has sat under his 
preaching many years, writes us as follows : — 

“ Dr. Hall leaves the bright memory of a con- 
sistent Christian character. He had lived in this 
community one-third of a century, and has won 
the high esteem of all who knew him, in differ- 
ent walks of life and in all religious denomina- 
tions. Firm in his own views of Christian faith, 
he maintained cordial friendship with ministers 
and laymen of other names. As a_ preacher, 
he was distinguished for spirituality and earn- 
estness. The solemn tones of his voice are 
associated in many hearts with their tenderest 
recollections of sacred things. He excelled par- 
ticularly in preaching on occasions which called 
forth warm sympathy with the trials of others. 
He was a firm believer in the truth and sanctity 
of Divine Revelation, and in the divine mission 
of our Saviour.” 

Though Dr. Hall has devoted himself with 
untiring assiduity to the interests of his people, 
he has always taken an active part in all edu- 


cational, philanthropic, and reformatory move- 





I32 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





ments. He was for many years a laborious 
member of the School Committee, and has 
almost constantly been an officer in the Athe- 
neum. For nearly twenty-five years he has 
been a trustee of Brown University. The tem- 
perance cause has ever found in him a warm 
supporter, even in the days when the zeal of 
many of its professed friends had abated. He 
took an active part in the formation of the Min- 
istry at Large, and was a most constant friend 
and helper of that beneficent institution. He has 
labored in behalf of many other charities, —the 
Home for Aged Females, the Shelter for Colored 
Orphans, and others, serving as adviser, and 
prompting some of the generous donations by 
which such institutions have been aided. He 
was an active member, and for several years the 
President, of the American Unitarian Associa- 
tion. After a recent effort to endow Antioch 
College, in Ohio, a professorship founded by 
donations from citizens of Providence, was 
named the Hall Professorship, as a token of 
respect for him... 








MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. i Fete 





He was one of the earliest and most ardent 
opponents of that system of African slavery, 
over whose downfall he was at last permitted to 
rejoice. He was a most earnest advocate of 
peace principles; and during his brief visit to 
Europe, in the summer of 1850, attended the 
World’s Peace Convention at Frankfort as a 
delegate, and made a speech, which received 
high commendation. But his peace principles, 
as he held them, he did not deem inconsistent 
with the most vigorous war measures in sup- 
pressing the rebellion. No man was more 
zealous than he in sustaining the Government. 
His voice, his pen, his purse, were at his coun- 
trys service. He believed in government and 
in human liberty; and few if any preachers 
met the crisis more manfully, or spoke of it more 
aptly, than he. His influence thus extended far 
beyond the confines of his parish, and helped 
mould the public sentiment in our city and else- 
where on many important subjects. 

His intellectual energies were, however, chiefly 


concentrated upon his sermons, as, indeed, they 


I34 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





must needs have been to furnish fresh discourses 
to the same people for a third of a century. A 
number of his theological discourses have been 
published. His occasional addresses were of 
a high order of merit. Among them, we may 
name, as specially valuable, his Address on John 
Howland, that on Henry Wheaton, and the Ad- 
dress delivered at the centennial celebration of 
the founding of the First Congregational Church. 
He was a frequent contributor to the “Journal.” 
His communications were generally appeals in 
behalf of some deserving charity or discussions 
of grave moral questions, and were always 
written with great facility and clearness. He 
furnished several articles for religious reviews 
and magazines. The only volume he ever pub- 
lished is the “Memoir of Mrs. Mary L. Ware,” 
wife of Rev. Henry Ware, jun., his brother-in- 
law. The popular verdict upon it is read in the 
fact that it has passed through seven editions. 

Dr. Hall was twice married. His first wife 
was Harriet Ware, daughter of Dr. Henry 
Ware, of Cambridge. She had six children, of 








ae 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. T35 


whom Rey. Edward H. Hall, of Plymouth, 
Mass., alone survives. In 1840, he married, for 
his second wife, Louisa Jane Park, daughter of 
Dr. John Park, of Boston. She, with her 
daughter, Harriet Ware Hall, still survives. 
Those who know how tender and affectionate 
a husband and father Dr. Hall was, will com- 
prehend how unspeakable is the loss of the 
bereaved family, and will cherish the warmest 
sympathy for them in this hour of their heavy 
affliction. 


[From “ Providence Daily Post”’ of March 5, 1866.] 
DEATH OF REV. DR. HALL. 


AGAIN we are called upon to record the death of 
one of our oldest and most esteemed clergymen 
and citizens. Rev. Dr. Edward B. Hall, Pastor 
of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Church 
and Society, died at his residence in this city at 
about six o’clock on Saturday evening. His fail- 





136 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





ing health, of which he was conscious, caused 
him, a few months since, to offer his resignation 
as pastor, which was unanimously refused by 
the church, he being requested to continue in 
the sacred office which he had honored by so 


many years of faithful labor. At the earnest and | 


unanimous solicitations of his people, he con- 
sented to continue their pastor until the coming 
May. His death, however, was unexpected at 
this time, and will cause deep sorrow to pervade 
not only the circle with which he was immedi- 
ately connected, but the city and State where he 
has been known and recognized as one of the 
first and foremost in every work of reform and 
in every benevolent enterprise. No man among 
us has been more devoted to the interests of 
humanity or to the works of charity. In Dr. 
Hall every struggling reform found a firm and 
unyielding friend. By his counsels and faith in 
the triumph of the good and the true, many a 
cause of right, long languishing, renewed its 
strength and vigor, and went on to a consum- 


mated victory. By his death, the cause of tem- 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 137 





perance has lost one of its most ardent advocates 
and most uncompromising friends. 

As a clergyman, Dr. Hall was faithful and 
earnest, never failing to commend the good, nor 
to denounce the evil and the false. He endeared 
himself to the church with which he was con- 
nected, by his many years of earnest and devoted 
labor. His kind words have given confidence 
to many a desponding one; his sincere faith in 
God has smoothed many a pathway in life’s dark, 
hidden way. To his brethren of other denomi- 
nations, Dr. Hall was uniformly courteous and 
considerate; and he was much esteemed by all 
of them for the liberal spirit which he always 
manifested, shunning all controversy, and will- 
ing to honor their convictions, as he held his 
own sacred to himself. 

Another of the landmarks has gone from 
among us. We take our pen to make mention 
of life, and death compels us to write of mor- 
tality. The grave is seizing, with remorseless 
grasp, all the great, the good, and trusted of 
the earth. 

18 





138 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


*¢ Like clouds which rake the mountain summit, 
Or waves that own no curbing hand, 
How fast hath brother followed brother 


From sunshine to the sunless land!” 


In the few short days behind us, we have seen 
the funeral train following to their last bourne 
the remains of some of our most eminent and 
respected citizens. Scarcely has the mournful 
cortége returned, before another summons comes, 
—a summons to the tomb. In’ view of these 
great changes, of our little hold on life, of the 
uncertainty of each hour, well may we say, — 


‘‘ Death, thou art infinite: 
Tis life is little.” 


[From ‘‘ Christian Register”? of March 10, 1866. ] 
EDWARD B. HALL, D.D. 


THE announcement of the death of this distin- 


guished clergyman was received in this city on 
last Saturday evening. The suddenness of the 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I39 


event, and interesting incidents connected with 


his last hours, will be found in the letter of our 
special correspondent from Providence. To this 
may also be added a report of the impressive 
services at the funeral. The wide-spread and 
heartfelt sorrow of that scene is the best witness 
to his labors and character. Fitting allusions to 
the event, and notices of the deceased, were made 
by various clergymen of our city in their services 
on Sunday. Few names are more justly hon- 
ored among us, and few ministers have worked 
to such a purpose. After a long and faithful 
ministry, his monument is one of the largest, 
strongest, and most devotedly religious parishes 
in our communion. But our knowledge of his 
dislike for excessive eulogy forbids us to indulge 
in indiscriminate praise. Nor are we tempted in 
his case; for the soberness of truth will be the 
best tribute to his memory. 

Dr. Hall, in the widest and best sense of the 
term, was a Christian minister. To this he 
made every thing bend. He threw into his 
work intellect, imagination, and heart. The 





I40 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


spirit of the Master, whom he so deeply loved 


and strove to follow, so filled him, as to lead him 
to toil in the cause of humanity. He was not 
a mere perfunctionary priest, but a Christian 
minister, whose sympathies were as various and 
wide-spread as human need, suffering, and sin. 
His attachment to his profession increased with 
his years. In his recent discourse to his people, 
he said : — 

“It is a calling, not only of my choice, but of 
an increasing affection. I doubt if any one ever 
loved it more. No office, honor, or wealth, I 
am persuaded, can yield more full and pure sat- 
isfaction. Not till I have lost all power of ac- 
tion shall I willingly relinquish the profession or 
work of the ministry.” | 

Dr. Hall was born in Medford, Mass., gradu- 
ated at Harvard College in 1820, studied the- 
ology in Cambridge, and was first settled as 
pastor of the Unitarian Church in Northampton, 
Mass., in 1826; a position he resigned, after 
three years’ service, on account of ill-health. He 


was installed at Providence in 1832. In 1848 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. I4!I 


he received from his Alma Mater the degree of 


©.T.D. For some months past, he had been an 
invalid; but his decease was sudden and unex- 
pected. He was twice married. His first wife 
was Harriet Ware, daughter of Dr. Henry 
Ware, of Cambridge. She had six children, 
of whom Rev. Edward H. Hall, of Plymouth, 
Mass., alone survives. In 1840, he married, for 
his second wife, Louisa Jane Park, daughter -of 
Dr. John Park, of Boston, Mass. She, with her 
daughter, Harriet Ware Hall, still survives. 

As a preacher, Dr. Hall was most distin- 
guished for moral earnestness and devotional 
fervor. Only those who have been his constant 
hearers know his full power in this direction. 
On special occasions, when he was aroused by 
the inspiration of his theme, there would fall 
from his lips passages of soul-stirring elo- 
quence. Often these would be the spontaneous 
utterance of the moment. As this occurred 
most frequently among his own people, they 
best knew his power and effectiveness as a 


preacher. 





I42 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





The influence of Dr. Hall in Providence, both 
as a man and preacher, is illustrated by the fol- 
lowing: A young clergyman of our faith said, in 
a private conversation on the day of the funeral, 
“When I entered college, I attended on the 
preaching of Dr. Wayland and Dr. Hall, and 
no man has done so much for me as the latter. 
In consequence of his preaching, | am to-day a 
Unitarian minister. I also used to notice his 
influence over other young men, and well re- 
member, during two seasons when he gave a 
course of sermons, with what rapt attention the 
large audience listened; and I could mention 
the names of several students in college who 
attended this series of discourses, and were per- 
manently influenced for good.” Such spontane- 
ous testimony as this is the best estimate we can 
give of his power and influence as a preacher. 


He was also pre-eminently a Christian pastor. 


Whatever of reserve he had to strangers was 


thrown off when his interest in the suffering and 
needy was awakened. In the sick-room, at the 
bed of the dying, and in the ministrations of con- 





— 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 143 








solation, he opened his heart, and poured forth 


his deepest feelings. .Many who have gone to 


their heavenly home, were they here, could bear 
witness to the fact that his words of faith and 
prayer had cheered their passage to the ‘grave. 
His own afflictions had brought his soul to the 
Fountain of all strength and joy. He had 
learned from experience that true piety would 
take the sting from grief; and this enabled him 
to become the real minister to the afflicted. 

In his opinions, Dr. Hall belonged to the con- 
servative school. He was cautious by nature, 
and had little fondness for the more rational 
phases of religious thought. Still, he was large 
minded, and fellowshipped with the real progres- 
sive tendencies of the age. In his denomina- 
tional relations, he was scrupulously faithful, as 
his constant presence at all our general meetings 
attests. He often went from a conviction of 
duty, believing that the obligation rested on each 
one to do his part. Now he has gone, and the 
record of his life is made up more by what he 
did than what he said. His work has been done 





144 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





with more completeness than often is permitted 
to man; and, as he was about to rest from his 
labors, he was called home. On Thursday his 
people and a very large circle of friends followed 
him to the grave. Rest, faithful laborer! God 
has blessed thee. We mourn; but thou art living 
in more intimate connection with the Father. 
We pay the best tribute to thy memory, when we 
make thy words and example the means of 
quickening in us a diviner light, and leading us 


to the Source of all comfort and consolation. 


THE FUNERAL SERVICES. 


On Thursday, the appointed day of the funeral 
solemnities, long before the hour assigned, a 
large number of persons gathered on the outside 
of the church, waiting for the procession, in order 
that they might enter the sanctuary. Many 
friends and parishioners had already been ad- 
mitted through the door in the rear. In the 


mean time, the family and more intimate friends 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 145 





of the deceased assembled at the house. The 
clergy gathered in large numbers. Among 
those from Providence were Dr. Sears, President 
of Brown University, and representatives from 
every denomination. Dr. Gannett, of Boston; 
Dr. Thompson, of Jamaica Plain; Dr. Briggs, 
from Salem; Dr. Farley, from Brooklyn; Dr. 
Osgood, from New York; Revs. Calvin Lincoln, 
Charles Lowe, and other clergymen from Mas- 
sachusetts, — were present. After a brief and 
fervent prayer by Dr. Hill, of Worcester, the 
procession was formed. ‘The coffin was carried 
by colored attendants, and the clergymen of 
different denominations acted as_pall-bearers. 
Next came the clergy, and then other friends. 


On reaching the church, the procession, preceded 


by the remains, entered and occupied the broad 


aisle, except the pews reserved for the family. 
The coffin was placed in front of the pulpit, and 
on it were laid a cross and wreaths of exquisite 
flowers. The pulpit was draped in black, which 
served as a background for another cross, and 
wreaths of pure white flowers. Over the coffin, 


es 





146 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





and on the wall of the open space under the 


pulpit, hung a large photograph of the deceased. 
As the procession entered the church, there was a 
low, solemn refrain from the organ, which added 
to the impressiveness of the scene. After all 
were seated, the family came in by the door in 
the rear; and, as all were gathered, there was a 
hushed solemnity. The sun shining through 
the stained windows diffused a rich and mellow 
light, and, as it fell on the throng of faces, pro- 
duced a scene that was both impressive and 
imposing. The arrangements were admirable. 
There was no noise; all things proceeded in that 
silent order befitting the solemn occasion. After 
a very appropriate voluntary, Rev. E. M. Stone 
read selections of Scripture. Then the congre- 
gation joined with the choir in singing the hymn 
beginning with these words : — 


‘*My Maker and my King, 


To thee my all I owe.” 


The voices of hundreds swelled and filled the 
church. The fact that the deceased had re- 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 147 








peated this hymn just before his death gave 
this part of the service a deeper interest. Very 
many sang with tears in their eyes. They could 


not fail to recall the image of their pastor, as with 
benignant smile, and the rapt glow of faith light- 
ing up his face, he repeated these very words. 


Though now the form lay there in the coldness 
of death, he spoke through the faith and trust 
which made sacred that sick-room and chamber 
of the dying. 

The singing was followed by prayer from Rev. 
A. Woodbury, in which heavenly benedictions 
were invoked, and the divine aid sought, for the 
afflicted family and parishioners. ‘Then came 
the well-known hymn of Mr. Norton, — 


‘¢ My God, I thank thee!” 


This also was selected for the same reason as the 
other, and was sung by the choir with impressive 
effect. 

The address by Dr. Gannett, his college class- 
mate and lifelong friend, was a discriminating 


and just delineation of the deceased. After a 





148 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





brief introduction, he pictured his friend as a boy 
entering college, and passed to a rapid review 
of the chief events of his life and a delineation of 
his character. One great feature of the deceased 
was, that he made constant and steady progress 
in knowledge and character, even unto the end 
of his life. Dr. Hall’s theological opinions, and 
his own estimate of the minister’s work ; his vari- 
ous efforts in behalf of charity and reform; the 
prominent position he occupied; and the high 
estimation in which he was held, both by his own 
people and by our entire communion, — all these 
points were touched upon. The closing part of 
the address was very impressive. During the 
delivery, a large number of the audience were 
often moved to tears. The services in the 
church closed with singing, and benediction by 
Rev. A. Woodbury. 

‘The remains were then borne by the colored at- 
tendants to the hearse, the procession re-formed, 
and in carriages moved towards the cemetery. 
As the train entered the grounds, and wound 
round the carriage-path, its great length became 


er 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 149 





apparent. It proceeded to the spot bought and 
prepared by the parish, and called the “ Pastor’s 
Rest.” The lot was surrounded by a thick 
hedge, and had a large tree in the centre. The 
family and a few friends entered with the re- 
mains; and, ere the body was committed dust to 
dust, ashes to ashes, Dr. Osgood read passages 
from the burial-service, portions of a hymn, and 
repeated the Lord’s Prayer. The choir then 


sung the well-known hymn, — 


‘*T would not live alway.” 


The whole scene was a picture that will long 
linger in the memory. In the centre of the 
group was the coffin, on which was _ placed 
beautiful flowers. Around clustered the family, 
parishioners, and clerical brethren. As thus 
they stood by the open grave, and listened to 
those words coming out of the deep yearning of 
the heart, and sung with touching feeling, the 
effect was sacred and inspiring. As a whole, it 
was a fitting expression of the Christian’s faith 


and aspiration, such as enable the _ believer 





I50 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





even to stand by the shadow of the grave with 


an elevated and cheerful faith in immortality, and 


encourage the heart-sore and stricken to commit 
the spirit of the loved ones to the mercy and love 
of our Heavenly Father. 


[From ‘‘ Christian Inquirer’’ of March 15, 1866. ] 


REV. DR. HALL. 


THE people of Providence had a memorable 
experience on Thursday, March 8, when the 
body of its oldest and most honored clergyman 
was committed to the earth. The whole city 
was mourner; and it seemed to be taken for | 
granted, that every man, woman, and child had 
lost a friend and benefactor. The large church 
was. filled at an early hour with an earnest and 
devout multitude; and, as far as the eye could 
reach, the avenues for a mile on the way to the 
cemetery were occupied by the procession of car- 
riages- It was evident that this minister of our 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. BAe 





church was recognized as a minister of the whole 
community. The pall-bearers were the clergy” 
of the city ; and it was a very novel and impress- 
ive sight to see the extremes of the Christian 
Chureh brought together at the side of that 
coffin, and the Episcopal bishop walking with 
the Quaker preacher. 

The arrangements for the funeral services 
were excellent, both in point of taste and efh- 
ciency. ‘There was no confusion, no hurry, no 
excess, no delay. The beautiful church never 
held more impressive worship, nor gave stronger 
proof of the power of its pastor’s ministry. He 
was there body and spirit, and his works and his 
people spoke for him. There was great emotion, 
but little pain, in the assembly. It was the gen- 
eral feeling, that God’s servant had done his work 
well, and was called home in good time, before 
the joy of life had ceased, and the threatened 
days of darkness and infirmity had come. The 
symbols of grief were well chosen, and were 
solemn, but not gloomy. The black cloth on 
the pulpit was relieved by a central cross of 


152 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





lovely flowers and a round wreath on each side. 
“The communion-table was a bed of flowers; and 
the coffin was covered with wreaths, and a cross 
and crown. It was a very impressive moment 
when the body was borne by the pall-bearers 
into the church, and followed by the procession 
of clergy and parishioners. Such occasions are 
never forgotten, and are sure to leave a lasting 
mark upon our people. It is not consistent in 
us, indeed, to imitate pontifical pageants, that 
give an exclusive honor to the priesthood, as 
being more than human; but it is consistent for 
us to show our just and reasonable estimate of 
our wise and good men, by our treatment of their 
memory in such fit and beautiful symbolism as 
we dearly love. 

Dr. Gannett’s address was judicious, interest- 
ing, and adequate, and kept the audience fixed 
for upwards of an hour. He was calm, and he 
subdued rather than quickened his emotion, and 
thus moved the people more than a more impas- 
sioned style would probably have done. It was 


a fitting tribute from a classmate and friend, and 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 153 








it speaks for itself in the printed page, so as to 
need no words of ours to define its excellen- 
ces: | 

Dr. Hall’s death is the most marked event in 
the recent annals of our clergy. He was one 
of the oldest of our leading ministers in the 
field of actual service; and his life was a con- 
necting tie between the past and present, and 
between a great variety of important interests 
and affinities. In the city of Providence, he was 
an historical name as well as a living power; and 
he carried with him the memory and affections 
of more than one generation. His face stands 
with us, his brethren, as the memorial of the men 
and scenes and events of our whole professional 
career; and we could never see him without see- 
ing the sainted Wares, his kinsmen, and their 
cherished associates within his sphere. . 

There is no man whose life is a more edifying 
study for our young men than his. He had no 
shining gifts, yet leaves a shining name. He 
was slow, but sure; never fast, but ever faithful. 


His mind was sagacious and practical; starting 


20 





154 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


from obvious principles of rectitude, and carry- 
ing them out to plain and specific conclusions. 
In his thinking and action, he held fast to what 
he had proved to be good; and a great part of 
his power came from his steadfast persistency 
' In what he believed to be right. He held his 
convictions, his habits, his friends, and parish- 
ioners to the last; and was not subject to any of 
those vacillations that are so wasteful of time 
and power, and set a man at work at the poor 
game of playing himself against himself. He 
held on by the old root, and so had all the 
benefit of time and growth from the good old 
stock. He grew slowly, but always grew; and, 
with his growth, a third of a century of God’s 
great providence bore its rich and ever-ripening 
fruit. 

He was a faithful pastor, and took the pas- 
toral view of every subject, and belonged more 
to the Ware school of practical pastors than to 
the Channing school of preaching philosophers. 
He was a clear-headed theologian, and began 
with the Fatherhood of God and the Sonship of 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 155 


Christ, and went on to present the duties and 


encouragements of religion from his sacred 
premises; but he was little inclined to go into 
the perplexing questions of controverted divinity, 
and his. most memorable tract on the Atone- 
ment is more marked for its scriptural authority 
and practical point than for its speculative ambi- 
tion. 

He was, in his way, a bold preacher, but 
mainly upon practical topics; a stout champion 
of temperance and anti-slavery, when they were 
not popular; anda zealous opponent of the death- 
penalty, when his opinion exposed him to no 
small degree of odium. 

He was a reserved man, yet wholly true to his 
friends, and at heart most affectionate. His pas- 
toral affections were quick and strong; and no 
man among us has lived more devotedly for his 
people than he. His occasional services were 
perhaps the most effective; and he needed not 
only a good subject, but an affecting object, to 
bring out his mind and heart, — such an object 


as pastoral life presented to him in its changes 





We 


156 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 
/ 





of joy or grief. His services the last night 
of the year were generally very interesting 
and edifying, and always brought the people 
nearer to each other and to him. In printing 
his sermons, these discourses should not be for- 
gotten. 

Since Starr King’s death,.no man among us 
has been called away who has left so large a 
void; and, in some respects, his work has been 
more effective. He has left, in family life and 
pastoral labor, as lasting memorials of. himself 
as any man in our ministry. He died at a 
somewhat advanced age (sixty-five years), but 
seemed young at heart. In his last conversation 


with me, three months ago, he was more genial 


than I ever knew him to be; and he expressed 


his love for his profession in words that no young 
enthusiast could surpass. He was cautious, but 
not timid; conservative, but not morose: and he 
spoke of new views and young men as liberally 
and hopefully as the most zealous progressives 
could ask of any father in the faith. Even Starr 


King could not have been more cheerful; and 





— vs . 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





our venerable father whose dust sleeps in “ Pas- 
tor’s Rest,” in Providence, was of the same good, 
sunny heart as our genial young brother whose 
remains lie in Pilgrim Churchyard, San Fran- 
cisco. | 

The cause of Liberal religion in Providence 
owes much to Dr. Hall. He strengthened it by 
his personal life as much as by his study and 
word. He did much to make our friends a 
Christian community, and to bring them to- 
gether, in good feeling and work. I have 
worked with him many years, and found him 
ready to join in every worthy enterprise; and 
we held our teachers’ meetings, conferences, 
and benevolent schemes together. The regular 
monthly exchange of pulpits was an excellent 
custom, and did a great deal to promote good 
feeling among our churches; and the institution 
of the Ministry-at-large is one of the lasting 
fruits of the good fellowship. 

New York and Providence are held together 
by many affinities of position and association. 


Two of our pastors in this vicinity were for years 





158 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


settled in Providence, and they represented our 


churches at Dr. Hall’s funeral. Dr. Farley re- 


mained over Sunday, and preached in the vacant 
pulpit at the request of the bereaved congrega- 
tion. The services on Sunday evening, at the 
Church of the Messiah, in this city, were of a 
memorial character; and the pastor gave a dis- 
course on the “Characteristics of the Faithful 
Pastor,” with as much illustration from the life 
of Dr. Hall as was fitting in a community where 
he had not been often heard. The evening was 
rainy; but a good audience, mostly of men, 
attended. The music was appropriate and 
beautiful. Peabody’s hymn, “Behold the west- 
ering evening light,” the “Nunc Dimittis,” and 
“ Nearer, my God, to Thee,” were sung by the 
choir; and the whole congregation joined in full 
voice in the choral, “Jerusalem, my happy 
home.” 

Rest in peace, spirit of our kind ‘and tue 
good and faithful, brother Hall! Death came to 
you sooner than you thought, but came in good 


time, and found you ready with your record 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





bright. Much love clings to you still, and is 
sure of your love in return. The crown on 
your coffin, in its fragrance and its form, spoke 
your epitaph: “ Well done, good and faithful 
servant! enter into the joy of your Lord.” 














mee Oe T/UNMeeANVD VOTICES 


BY 


OTHER?’ SO Cle TIES. 





21 








PeoOoLUPIONS AND NOTICES. 


WESTMINSTER CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY. 


AT a special meeting of the Westminster Congre- 
gational Church and Society, held immediately 
after divine service, Sunday morning, March 4, 
the following preamble and resolutions were 
adopted : — 

WHEREAS, It has pleased our Heavenly 
Father to remove from this mortal life the soul 
of our esteemed and beloved brother, Rev. Dr. 
Edward Brooks Hall, the pastor of the First 
Congregational Church and Society in this city, 
therefore — 

Feesolved, ‘That this Christian church and 


society hereby express their sense of the severe 





164 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





bereavement. which they have suffered in the 
death of this faithful, devoted, and earnest 
laborer in the vineyard of our Lord. 

Lresolved, That we record our grateful and 
united appreciation of the fidelity, godliness, 
sincerity, and Christian trust which have char- 
acterized our brother’s ministry in our church 
and our homes, his untiring labors for the wel- 
fare of this community, his pure and blameless 
life before God and man, and his self-sacrificing 
service of the divine truth. 

feesolved, ‘That we offer to the family of our 
departed friend, and to the members of our sis- 
ter church and society, our cordial sympathy in 
their affliction, and commend ourselves and them 
to the care and guidance of Him who alone 
can give us consolation, ever praying that the 
light of his paternal presence may shine into 
our hearts for our support and strength and 
hope. 

feesolved, ‘That a copy of these resolutions be 
transmitted to the First Congregational Church 
and Society, and to the family of the deceased, 


oa 
Sate e hy 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 165 





\ 


and be published in the daily papers of this 


city, and in the journals of our faith. 


NEW-YORK PASTORAL ASSOCIATION. 


Tue following resolutions were offered by Rev. 


Dr. Osgood, at the meeting of the New-York 
Pastoral Association, on Monday, March 5, and, 
accompanied with affectionate remarks by the 
mover and other brethren, were duly passed : — 

Peesolved, That the New-York Pastoral As- 
sociation have heard with deep emotion of the 
death of our beloved and revered brother, Rev. 
Dr. Hall, of Providence, and hereby record our 
great respect for his personal character and 
professional fidelity through the many and mem- 
orable years of his service. 

Feesolved, That we tender our cordial sym- 
pathy to his bereaved family and parish, and 
transmit to them a copy of these resolutions. 

Resolved, That these resolutions be published 


in the “ Christian Inquirer.” 





166 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF FALL RIVER. 


AT a special meeting of the congregation of the 
Unitarian Society at Fall River, held at their 
meeting-house on Tuesday evening, the 6th of 
March, “A; D. 4866, ati wag 

fresolved, That we deeply sympathize in the 
bereavement of the people of the First Congre- 
gational Church and Society in Providence, by 
the death of their pastor, the Rev. Dr. Edward 
Brooks Hall. 

We have been privileged to listen with ever- 
increasing interest to his ‘discourses, in his ex- 
changes with our pastors, ever since his instal- 


ment, now more than thirty-three years since. 


We have had his wise and friendly counsel in 


our most trying misfortunes and embarrassments. 
And we have had the most liberal benefactions 
of the people of his charge. 

fresolved, 'That Rev. C. W. Buck, H. Battelle, 
Israel Borden, T. T. Potter, G. H. Hathaway, 
H. N. Gunn, Edmund Chase, and Dr. F. Hooper, 





MEMORIAL OF REV. D. HALL. 167 





be delegates of this congregation to attend the 
funeral services of the Rev. Dr. Edward Brooks 
Hall, at Providence, at eleven o’clock, on Thurs- 
day, the 8th inst. 

FResolved, 'That a copy of these resolutions be 
forwarded to the Standing Committee of the First 
Congregational Society in Providence. 


H. N. Gunn, Chairman. 
SAMUEL M. Brown, Clerk. 


SHELTER HOME OF PROVIDENCE. 


AT a special meeting of the Board of Managers 
of the “Shelter Home,” held March 7, the fol- 
lowing resolutions were adopted : — 

Resolved, That in the death of Rev. E. B. 


Hall, D.D., we mourn the loss of a personal 


friend and efficient member, for many years, of 
our advisory Board. 
Resolved, That in the devotion of our rever- 


end friend to every good word and work, in his 





168 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





untiring zeal for the rights of man, in his life- 
long sympathy for the aged and the orphan, in 
his every-day self-abnegation, we recognize the 
spirit of Him who “came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister.” 

fresolved, That, in his bright example of every 
Christian grace, our beloved counsellor has left 
us a rich legacy in death; while in life he was 
ever prompt, not only to aid us by his practical 
wisdom, but his extensive personal influence and 
eloquent pen were often successfully used to 
plead the cause of the helpless, and to fill the 
empty storehouse of the orphan. 


Resolved, That we tender the family of our 


deceased friend and brother our sincere sympa- 
thy ; assuring them, that, in their great bereave- 
ment, the whole community are bereaved of one 
who, strong in moral and intellectual power, yet 
“went about doing good” among us, in all the 
beautiful simplicity of a little child. 

fresolved, That a copy of these resolutions be 
sent to the family of Rev. Dr. Hall, and to the 
daily papers for publication. 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 169 











CHILDREN’S FRIEND SOCIETY. 


Tue Board of Managers of the Children’s Friend 
Society, at their meeting on Tuesday, March 6, 
unanimously requested their Secretary to express 
to Mrs. Dr. Hall and family, their sincere sym- 
pathy for them in their recent heavy bereave- 
ment. 

No formal adhesion to etiquette prompts this 
testimonial ; for the Board feel that ¢Zey have also 
experienced a heavy loss. From the first organi- 
zation of the Children’s Friend Society, Rev. Dr. 
Hall was one of their Board of Advisors, and, 
through its now thirty years of existence, has 
been, in word and deed, its constant friend, and 
judicious counsellor. Often has his pen been 
used to call the public attention to its wants and 
to its claims upon the community. 

Often has his presence cheered the drooping 
spirits of its matrons and its managers, and im- 
parted a happy, genial influence to its family 
festivals. In difficulties and embarrassments, 


22 





170 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





his patience was not wearied in planning modes 
of relief. Upon his clear judgment the Board 
have relied for guidance in their responsible 
duties. In 42m they saw realized the patriarch’s 
picture of one “who when the ear heard him, 
then it blessed him; and, when the eye saw him, 
it gave witness to him: because he delivered the 
poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that 
had none to help him. The blessing of him 
that was ready to perish came upon him, and 
he caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.” 
With such memories of the past, it is as sincere 
mourners that the Board of Managers tender 
this expression of their sorrow and sympathy to 
the family of their departed friend and adviser. 


Marcu 8, 1866. 


PROVIDENCE EMPLOYMENT SOCIETY. 


Tue Providence Employment Society, wishing 
to give some expression of their appreciation of 
the character and services of the late Rev. E. B. 





PTE a 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. L7T 








Hall, D.D., have adopted the following resolu- 
tions : — | 

Resolved, That this Society have received 
with feelings of deep sorrow the announcement 
of the death of Rev. Dr. Hall. 

Resolved, That, in the removal by death of 
Dr. Hall, we realize the loss of an endeared 
friend, a willing and efficient helper, the co- 
worker with her, his early-lost partner, whose 
intelligence and whose interest in the poor 
suggested this particular form of charity; and 
who has, through the twenty-nine years of its 
existence, ever given to it his warm sympa- 
thy and support; rejoicing with us in all the 
relief and blessing it has afforded to the indus- 
trious and worthy needlewomen, and by his 
Christian trust and hopefulness sustaining us 
through seasons of discouragement and loss. 

Resolved, That we cherish the remembrance 
of his devotion to the highest interests of man- 
kind; his unwearied efforts for the alleviation of 
the sufferings of the poor; his happiness in min- 
istering to the welfare of the earthly and the 





172 MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


spiritual being; his Christian love, overlooking 
and overcoming all unworthy obstacles, and 
pressing on to the furtherance of every Chris- 
tian enterprise. 

FPesolved, 'That we bear in mind his imitation 
of the example of the Master in going about 
doing good; that the love of Christ, which made 
his life so useful, may become deeper and more 
active in ours; that we sympathize with his 
family in their heavy bereavement, and offer 
them our heartfelt tribute of respect and affec- 
tion for his memory; and that we mourn the loss 


to the Christian charities of this community of a 


loving co-operator in every good word and work. 


PROVIDENCE, April 13, 1866. 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 178 


BENEFIT-STREET MINISTRY-AT-LARGE. 


AT a meeting of the Trustees of the Benefit- 
street Ministry-at-large, held March 19, the fol- 
lowing resolutions were unanimously adopted :— 

feesolved, "That in the death of Rev. Edward 
B. Hall, D.D., pastor of the First Congrega- 
tional Society and Church, the Trustees of the 
Benefit-street Ministry-at-large mourn the de- 
parture of one to whose earnest advocacy the 
Ministry largely owes its efficiency and success ; 
who, for many years, presided over its work with 
a thorough fidelity and an unwearied spirit of 
well-doing ; who was ever known, throughout 
the entire community, as the friend of the 
wretched and the destitute; and in whose ex- 
ample of Christian charity the members of this 
Board gratefully recognize an encouragement 
and stimulus to their obedience to the great laws 
of Christian duty and love. | 


* 


LA MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 





PROVIDENCE SEAMEN’S FRIEND SOCIETY. 


RESOLUTIONS passed unanimously at the Annual 
meeting of the Providence Seamen’s Friend So-. 
ciety, April 5, 1866 : — 

WHEREAS, Death has removed from our midst 
the Rev. Dr. Hall, of this city, therefore — 

Feesolved, ‘That in his death the Bethel Church 
and Society feel that they too, in connection with 
many others, have lost a valuable friend; one 
whose counsels were ever at our disposal when 
asked for, aiding and assisting us in various 
ways, in days of adversity as well as in days 
of prosperity. 

Feesolved, ‘That we deeply sympathize with 
the family, friends, also the church and society 
at that time under his charge, in the loss they 
have sustained in the death of so good a man. 

Resolved, That a copy of the above be sent to 
the family and friends, and also to the clerk of 
the church and society with whom he so long 
labored. 


a) ee 


a a EN CT I ELI DE TE A TI I TEE TET TOE IIRL BORIS tM BT ENR GIT TNR tag 


MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 175 





HOME FOR AGED WOMEN. 


From the “Annual Report of the Managers of 
the Home for Aged Women:” — 

This Society, in common with all kindred 
associations, feel that they have met with a 
great loss in the death of the late Rev. Dr. 
Hall. From the conception of the Home until 


the day of his death, Dr. Hall was an ardent 


and true friend to its interests and its prosperity. 
He was ever ready, in every possible way, to aid 
us; and we recall his eloquent and touching ad- 
dress at the opening of the Home, with feelings 
of reverence for the departed. We deeply mourn 
the loss of such a good and true friend as God, 
in his providence, has taken from us and from 
the community at large. His lips cheered us; 
iis-——pen aided’ us; and his large’ heart. ever 
sympathized with us in all cases of doubt and 
perplexity, and rejoiced with us in all our ex- 
perience of prosperity. 


¥ 





MEMORIAL OF REV. DR. HALL. 


WASHINGTONIAN TEMPERANCE SOCIETY. 


RESOLUTIONS of the Washingtonian Temperance 
Society on the death of Rev. Dr. Hall :— 
When, in the dispensation of Divine Provi- 


dence, one is taken from us whose whole life 
has been given to the cause of justice and 
humanity ; who was ever found on the side of 
virtue and morality ; whose talents and influence 
were always enlisted in every moral reform, — it 
is proper to endeavor to embalm his virtues, and 
notice, by every becoming token of respect, his 
departure from us: therefore — 

fresolved, ‘That we learn with deep regret and 
sorrow of the death of Rev. Edward B. Hall, 
D.D., who, during his life, was a consistent and 
steadfast friend of the cause of temperance, and 
that we sincerely lament his loss to us and the 
community. 

feesolved, That we will cherish his memory 
and try to imitate his virtues, as we mourn his 
removal from us to his reward in a _ higher, 
brighter, and better world. 














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